Monday, March 31, 2014

Cato Shrugged Analyst: Putin 'Wants to Regain Finland'

This is totally off-the-wall, neocon-type thinking out of Cato. The International Business Times reports:
One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ex-advisers has claimed that the ex-KGB agent ultimately wants to reclaim Finland for Russia.

Andrej Illiaronov, Putin's economic adviser between 2000 and 2005 and now senior member of the Cato Institute think tank, said that "parts of Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States and Finland are states where Putin claims to have ownership."

"Putin's view is that he protects what belongs to him and his predecessors," he said.

When asked if Putin wishes to return to the Russia of the last tsar, Nicholas II, Illiaronov said: "Yes, if it becomes possible."

Illiaronov admits that Finland is not Putin's primary concern at present but, if not stopped in other areas of Eastern Europe, the issue will one day arise.
Once more, for the record, Russian troops are in Crimea protecting the overwhelming majority of the population who are of Russian descent. Further, they are protecting the naval port for Russia, which they have a right to based on a lease agreement between Ukarine and Russia. Finally, Putin only reacted after a U.S. instigated overthrow of the democratic elected Ukrainian government.

18 comments:

  1. We are all Finnish now! Bwa ha ha.

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  2. Once more, for the record, Russian troops are in Crimea for energy. They do not give a damn about anyone of Russian descent. How naive are you? They do not need to occupy Crimea to protect a naval port. US instigated an overthrow because they knew that Putin intended to invade Ukraine for energy.

    Why do you hate America?

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    1. And, America is there for....?

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    2. hypocricy and ignorance of self haters is astonishing

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    3. Why do only dullards and demagogues resort to the argumentum ad passiones epitomized by the "why do you hate America" trope?

      Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Jerry Wolfgang--birds of a feather.

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    4. Why do you love the American government?

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    5. Because it a corrupt, oppressive, violent, incompetent, deceitful, dishonest, plundering, murdering entity run by and for the benefit of narcissistic psychopaths. Do you have any harder questions Jerry?

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    6. "Why do you hate America?"

      Guys. This is why I don't argue with this guy. He's JUST a TROLL. He's TRYING to get a RISE out of people. I don't think he believes a thing he's saying. That's why I just wish RW would ban him. He's just trolling. Nothing else.

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    7. Jerry's "Why do you hate America?" line makes me think he's a libertarian having fun with all of us here.

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    8. No Anonymous, Jerry is actually a Progressive who is too intellectually lazy to understand that Libertarians and Conservatives have a fundamental difference over the appeal to patriotism. The former are totally unperturbed by any accusation of hating America, but the latter would be apoplectic.

      By conflating the two widely divergent views, he thinks he's cleverly getting our goat, but we don't care! And by equating himself with his arch nemeses (yet intellectual peers) from Fox News, he doesn't realize just how dumb his comment makes him look.

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    9. "Jerry's "Why do you hate America?" line makes me think he's a libertarian having fun with all of us here."

      EXACTLY. That's called "trolling". It wastes my time and everyone else.

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    10. "Why do you hate America?"

      HAHAHAHAHA

      Jerry Wolfgang = troll.

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  3. Farmer Putin wants the Tax Farm they call "Finland"...The stupid tax cattle just moo. Film at 11:00.
    People are too stupid to be free.

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  4. If Crimea falls Finland will be next.
    If Finland falls then Alaska will be next.
    To war !
    To war !

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  5. So, is Putin a old Soviet communist pining for the return of the Red guard, or is he a tsarist pining for the return of the White guard?

    The chickenshit jingoist warhawks need to get their story straight. [Although, with the frothy levels of stupidity in American society, the necessity for consistent rhetoric is greatly diminished.] I, for one, can't wait to see Putin carve up Ukraine with the ease and skill of a master butcher.

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    1. I suspect Mr Putin is OK with the situation he holds his warm water port in the Crimea, he has a good third of the Ukraine happy to ignore anything Kiev says or does especially when the rulers of Kiev are more interested in siphoning IMF money into their own accounts.

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  6. Wow, I didn't realize we had states called Ukraine, Crimea or Finland? Amazing! Maybe we're approaching the 57 states that obomber said we had when he first campaigned to be dear leader.

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    1. Don't forget Israel. They're one of the 50-something states too. Or maybe you're just "anti-Semitic"?

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