Micro Macro and I remember the Cold War
 

I remember the huge amounts of grain the US (Carter Admin) gave to Russia to prevent famine it was excess and was sold for pennies on the dollar. The reason I used Micro and Macro is because although relationships between countries are huge and we deal with the same problems in our own everyday lives; every thing that was gold we did to help someone out a few years ago becomes copper when the memory fades. I think that it is also a bit ironic that he used the term 'peanuts'

Angry Putin says he will not sell fuel for 'peanuts'
By Andrew Osborn in Moscow
Published: 07 July 2006

President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of using the media to try to bully his country into selling off its huge reserves of oil and gas "for peanuts" days before he hosts a G8 summit in St Petersburg. A visibly angry Mr Putin used a live broadcast on the BBC website yesterday to address what he sees as the biggest injustice of Russia's G8 presidency so far - the European gas crisis last January.

The crisis overshadowed the start of Moscow's stint at the G8 helm and erupted after a pricing row between Russia and Ukraine prompted Moscow to cut off Ukrainian gas supplies in the middle of one of Europe's coldest winters.

The switch-off was portrayed by many in the West as the callous act of a bully using its resources as a political weapon to punish Ukraine for taking itself out of Russia's orbit with a pro-Western "orange revolution". But Mr Putin claimed yesterday that his country had been unfairly vilified by the Western media and that "someone" had used the row to blacken Russia's image in order to pressure it into selling its oil and gas at bargain-basement prices.

His remarks suggest there may be stormy exchanges between G8 leaders and that Russia will continue to refuse European demands for access to its huge oil and gas pipeline network.

"The hysteria that was whipped up by many European and North American media was an attempt to pressure Russia not the Ukraine," he argued. Mr Putin alleged it was ironic that Russia had been made to look like the villain since it had merely decided to apply market principles long cherished in the West.

"The price of gas is not dictated by the Kremlin but by the markets," he said.

In between taking questions on North Korea and Iran's military ambitions, Mr Putin was asked: "Why did he kiss the bare stomach of a boy in a Kremlin courtyard last week, a scene beamed around the world?"

"He seemed to me very independent, very serious, but at the same time a boy is always vulnerable," he said. "He was very sweet. I'll be honest, I felt an urge to squeeze him like a kitten and that led to the gesture that I made."

President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of using the media to try to bully his country into selling off its huge reserves of oil and gas "for peanuts" days before he hosts a G8 summit in St Petersburg. A visibly angry Mr Putin used a live broadcast on the BBC website yesterday to address what he sees as the biggest injustice of Russia's G8 presidency so far - the European gas crisis last January.

The crisis overshadowed the start of Moscow's stint at the G8 helm and erupted after a pricing row between Russia and Ukraine prompted Moscow to cut off Ukrainian gas supplies in the middle of one of Europe's coldest winters.

The switch-off was portrayed by many in the West as the callous act of a bully using its resources as a political weapon to punish Ukraine for taking itself out of Russia's orbit with a pro-Western "orange revolution". But Mr Putin claimed yesterday that his country had been unfairly vilified by the Western media and that "someone" had used the row to blacken Russia's image in order to pressure it into selling its oil and gas at bargain-basement prices.

His remarks suggest there may be stormy exchanges between G8 leaders and that Russia will continue to refuse European demands for access to its huge oil and gas pipeline network.

"The hysteria that was whipped up by many European and North American media was an attempt to pressure Russia not the Ukraine," he argued. Mr Putin alleged it was ironic that Russia had been made to look like the villain since it had merely decided to apply market principles long cherished in the West.

"The price of gas is not dictated by the Kremlin but by the markets," he said.

In between taking questions on North Korea and Iran's military ambitions, Mr Putin was asked: "Why did he kiss the bare stomach of a boy in a Kremlin courtyard last week, a scene beamed around the world?"

"He seemed to me very independent, very serious, but at the same time a boy is always vulnerable," he said. "He was very sweet. I'll be honest, I felt an urge to squeeze him like a kitten and that led to the gesture that I made."

My favorite quote from the above story: "The price of gas is not dictated by the Kremlin but by the markets," he said.

I agree, it sort of sets the stage.

isn't that what cheney said too?

tom w

Read the quote again and imagine that it is 1975.

i am not sure what your point is.

my comment about cheney was facitious.... partly.

i was an adult in 75. the grain sales were portrayed as a good thing for the us. i was not aware that it was sold at give away prices. i thought that it was sold at market price.

any farmers out there to comment on what the grain sales did to prices here? did grain values suffer from it?

i was under the impression that it was good for the us and for starving folks in russia.

tom w

It was subsidized, surplus grain. The farmers got paid the subsidized price and the Soviets got it at cost plus transport, IIRC. The US gov could have done a better job of exploiting the propaganda aspects by just shutting-up and letting the act speak for itself. But you know politicians--the lard-assed mouthy pricks spent the next several years rubbing it in. Clinton did a somewhat better job giving food to N. Korea, but even then he couldn't help but make some political points off it.

It seems to me that perhaps the most effective propaganda would be quietly doing good works and seeking no benefit from it. I cannot imagine a politician able to do that, but hope springs eternal.

B