Get a handle on Saddam's trial. Now!

In June 1526, Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire, led an army into Hungary to attack the forces of Hungary's king, fifteen year old Louis II. This military conquest was a pre-emptive strike against a reinforced Hungarian kingdom after its alliance with the formidable Hapsburg Empire. A decisive defeat for Louis II at the battle of Mohacs came on August 29, 1526 when Suleiman's Turkish soldiers crushed the Hungarian army. Fifteen year old Louis II was killed during a frenzied retreated from the battle field.
Hungary would reel from this defeat for centuries and with its newly secured base in eastern Europe, the Ottoman Empire's efficient light cavalry and cannon would continue to launch advances into central Europe for decades.

Rarely, if ever, is a nation's leader dealt with so harshly in modern times. Perhaps it is because modern military leaders never lead their troops into battle. And whether they be teenagers or not, most modern heads of state are not killed attempting to retreat amid the crushing defeat of their army. Sometimes they are simply trapped like rats by marauding armies.

We like to think of ourselves as more civilized when dealing with the modern day vanquished. The Nuremberg trials after world war 2 introduced the present model of justice when dispatching the losers in war. Even so, Nuremberg had its detractors. The validity of the court was questioned by many groups and individuals for a variety of reasons and motives:
* The defendants were not allowed to appeal.
*The defendants couldn't affect the selection of judges.
*The judges were appointed by the victors.
*The Tribunal was not impartial and could not be regarded as a court in the true sense.
*Etc.
These are many of the same complaints heard from the detractors in the trial of Saddam Hussien. But one thing that wasn't tolerated at Nuremberg were complaints by the defendants in the form of outburst and disruptions. Saddam has too long turned these court proceeding into his personal kangaroo spectacle. The latest outburst on Sunday by Saddam and his half-brother, once again plunged the proceedings into chaos. Those outbursts finally resulted in the defendants being forcibly removed from the courtroom and the defendants lawyers walking out in protest. The trial has been adjourned until Feb. 2nd.

My advice to the new head judge is get a handle on these outburst now!
Whether these defendants are sequestered in holding cells off premises and video fed the proceedings or held in glass isolation booths ala Adolph Eichmann, deal with this contempt swiftly and severely. And gag that putz Ramsey Clark too. Public confidence and patience is waning and justice will be denied if Saddam's over bearing 'kangaroo' personality is superimposed any longer upon these proceedings.

Justice would have been much better served if Saddam just had the stones to die on the battle field like any other teenage head of state.

Something from a simpler time

The Parable of the Broken Window* by Frédéric Bastiat.
First published in 1850.


~Have you ever been witness to the fury of that solid citizen, John Public, when his incorrigible son has happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at this spectacle, certainly you must also have observed that the onlookers, even if there are as many as thirty of them, seem with one accord to offer the unfortunate owner the selfsame consolation: "It's an ill wind that blows nobody some good. Such accidents keep industry going. Everybody has to make a living. What would become of the glaziers if no one ever broke a window?"
1.6

Now, this formula of condolence contains a whole theory that it is a good idea for us to expose, flagrante delicto, in this very simple case, since it is exactly the same as that which, unfortunately, underlies most of our economic institutions.
1.7

Suppose that it will cost six francs to repair the damage. If you mean that the accident gives six francs' worth of encouragement to the aforesaid industry, I agree. I do not contest it in any way; your reasoning is correct. The glazier will come, do his job, receive six francs, congratulate himself, and bless in his heart the careless child. That is what is seen.
1.8

But if, by way of deduction, you conclude, as happens only too often, that it is good to break windows, that it helps to circulate money, that it results in encouraging industry in general, I am obliged to cry out: That will never do! Your theory stops at what is seen. It does not take account of what is not seen.
1.9

It is not seen that, since our citizen has spent six francs for one thing, he will not be able to spend them for another. It is not seen that if he had not had a windowpane to replace, he would have replaced, for example, his worn-out shoes or added another book to his library. In brief, he would have put his six francs to some use or other for which he will not now have them.
1.10

Let us next consider industry in general. The window having been broken, the glass industry gets six francs' worth of encouragement; that is what is seen.
1.11

If the window had not been broken, the shoe industry (or some other) would have received six francs' worth of encouragement; that is what is not seen.
1.12

And if we were to take into consideration what is not seen, because it is a negative factor, as well as what is seen, because it is a positive factor, we should understand that there is no benefit to industry in general or to national employment as a whole, whether windows are broken or not broken.
1.13

Now let us consider John Public.
1.14

On the first hypothesis, that of the broken window, he spends six francs and has, neither more nor less than before, the enjoyment of one window.
1.15

On the second, that in which the accident did not happen, he would have spent six francs for new shoes and would have had the enjoyment of a pair of shoes as well as of a window.
1.16

Now, if John Public is part of society, we must conclude that society, considering its labors and its enjoyments, has lost the value of the broken window.
1.17

From which, by generalizing, we arrive at this unexpected conclusion: "Society loses the value of objects unnecessarily destroyed," and at this aphorism, which will make the hair of the protectionists stand on end: "To break, to destroy, to dissipate is not to encourage national employment," or more briefly: "Destruction is not profitable."
1.18

What will the Moniteur industriel say to this, or the disciples of the estimable M. de Saint-Chamans, who has calculated with such precision what industry would gain from the burning of Paris, because of the houses that would have to be rebuilt?
1.19

I am sorry to upset his ingenious calculations, especially since their spirit has passed into our legislation. But I beg him to begin them again, entering what is not seen in the ledger beside what is seen.
1.20


*This is not to be confused with the text on sociology titled Fixing Broken Windows.

The fallacy of the onlookers' argument is that they considered the positive benefits of purchasing a new window, but they ignored the hidden costs to the shopkeeper and others. He was forced to spend his money on a new window, and therefore could not have spent it on something else. The child did not bring any net benefit to the town. Instead, he made the town poorer by the value of one window.
This lesson can be a foil to those idiots who promote littering (creates employment)
or those charletans citing the benefits of nature's fury (reconstruction), etc. Whether it is a small accident(a broken window) or a regional disaster(hurricane), society is all the poorer for the destruction and derives no net benefit.

He's slime, but honest slime

Joel Stein is a columnist for the L.A. Times. On Tuesday he wrote an op-ed piece entitle Warriors and wusses were he states, 'I don't support the troops'. Fair enough. He doesn't have to support the troops or agree with this war in Iraq. This is America. Political dissent and free speech are protected rights.

Mr. Stein further opines, 'But blaming the president is a little too easy. The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying.'
I'm sure fascist dictators the likes of Saddam Hussien would have appreciated his comments and defended his right to say that in old Iraq. Yeah, right.

Joel Stein is slime. I don't respect him, but I sure respect his right to be slime.

Odd news you can blame on global warming

Calling Godzilla!
Japan's coastal waters invaded by giant jelly fish!
Blame it on global warming.

Do jellyfish have ears?
Without much evidence, other than speculation, some genius has published a
paper stating that the ears of mammals evolved from fish gills.
No word yet from these oracles where the nose came from, but read here to find when a woman smells best!
Blame it on global warming

Curious, George?
Yeah. This one too

And in a bid to control the minds of children everywhere, Disney buys Pixar. This move plus record profits for Apples Ipod propels Steve Jobs into the numero uno contenders spot to unseat Bill Gates as the anti-christ.
Blame this one on the evolving mammal during global warming HA!

Darkness on the edge of town

It's a small world and the winds of change have blown. The US is at an impasse on the world stage and it is not because 'dubya' is evil or we are scorned as an imperialistic monster spanking a fugitive dictator. No, the impasse is from the paradigm shift of new alliances on the massive Eur-Asian continent.

There is a darkness on the edge of town and most folks don't like it none too much. Want to see an angry populace or a government fall out of favor? Try turning off the electricity or running water or, God forbid, pre-empt their favorite television show. It has all gone way past keeping the wolf away and the fireplace stoked. Billions of people in the far and near East are very accustomed to cell phones, refrigerated foods, electric lights, satellite dishes, consumer electronics, modern textiles and home appliances. These are culture changing devices and influence billions more people than bombs, bullets or boots ever could. Most all of it is the result of oil, coal and natural gas.

Oil, oil and more oil
China wants oil, not to mention natural gas. The Mideast and Eur-Asia have it and China wants it. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of coal, but coal doesn't fit very neatly into the twenty first century plans of plastic and electronics. China has been very aggressive about seeking new sources for oil and natural gas across the Eur-Asian continent, in particular with the former soviet satellite countries comprised of the 'Brothers Stan'. For now, China is reliant upon East Africa and, more importantly, Iran for its supply of much desired oil and natural gas to fuel the fastest growing economy in the world today. Russia with its oil & gas giant, Gazprom, is keeping a watchful eye on all of this.

Hence, the impasse for the U.S.
Herr whos-its, the current president of Iran, has been doing the sabre rattle boogie with regard to that country's development of nuclear power. Russia has a big stake in helping Iran develop that nuclear power, yet Russia does not want to alienate the west nor jeopardize future relations with its Persian neighbor. China has a big stake in wanting Iranian oil and does not want to alienate its supplier. All agree that sanctions against Iran would simply disrupt world wide oil supplies and send already high crude oil prices even higher. The U.S. is weighted down with current Iraqi obligations and further military muscle is not readily available for a show down with Iran. Besides, the feasibility and effectiveness of such an action is
dubious at best. Israel still favors diplomacy.
But Iran knows this impasse will draw some sort of response and, in a cautious move, is removing its monetary assets from the west.


The major weapons in this diplomatic arm wrestle with Iran are not military hyper technology, rapid deployment forces and superior air power, but the world's supply and demand for oil and gas. China's voracious demand for oil and Russia's uneasy inroads with the west will determine the outcome for this one and how favorable it will be for the U.S.
Natural resources and growing economies are currently the most favored weapons of choice here in the new millennium. At least until some madman like Herr whos-its decides that a nuclear arsenal needs to be used in order to be appreciated.

Many thanks to the Boss for the title. I know how much he loves supporting all things conservative.
Next week I might try a Karla Bonoff motiff.


Happy monday!

Sunni ignore Zarqawi and support Talabani

If you have never had a chance to check out 'Iraq the Model' here @ blogspot, I highly recommend that you do.
This is an article from Jan. 9, 2006 and details one Iraqi's point of view about how that murdering scum, Zarqawi, is rapidly losing steam among his own.

Clarence, thy name ain't 'Tookie'

Clarence Allen Roy was put to death a little past midnight by the state of California. And just like I predicted, there was no media whore parade demanding clemency and no celebrity cluster 'you-know-what' voicing outrage about the injustice. Mr. Roy just passed quietly into that land of worm food. You see, Mr. Roy just wasn't charismatic or celebrity hip enough to garner the kind of attention that accompanied the debate about 'Tookie'.
Roy's gang didn't make the papers. I guess the likes of Snoopy Dog, Jamie Foxx and, that ultimate hollywood hypocrite, Danny Glover, were too busy someplace else to fight for the life of poor Clarence.

And speaking of hollywood hypocrites, what's up with Steven Speilberg and his latest movie, "Munich'?
Apparently, Mr. Speilberg has dubious allegiance to libertry and is in desperate need of a moral compass. Try going to Egypt, Syria or Iran, Mr. Speilberg and see how much artistic freedom your Jewish self would be allowed.

Onto obsfucated stuff!
These are news stories that you will miss if you blink ('cause the msm can't bury them fast enough).

Iraqi vote fraud extremely low!*
Iraq's electoral commission said Monday that it is throwing out votes from 227 ballot boxes in last month's parliamentary elections because of fraud. Those tainted ballots amounted to only one percent of the total vote. It shouldn't greatly affect overall results.
*( note the obligatory reference to unrelated bad news in the second paragraph of this ABC report.)

The U.S. goverment ran a budget surplusfor the month of December, 2005. The federal government posted the first budget surplus for December in three years as corporate tax payments hit an all-time high, helping offset a record level for spending, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. Despite the fact that corporate income tax collections totaled a record $73.5 billion last month, surpassing the old record of $72 billion set in September, the leftist utopian screamers will still demand higher taxes on the evil rich and how 'dubya' is a criminal.

And ain't it funny how CNN is real cozy with dictators? Cnn was well known for sucking up to Saddam when he was in power and they continue the tradition with Herr whos-its of Iran.
But wait!
CNN ruffled the wrong feathers when a translator employed by the news agency misinterpreted 'nuclear technology' to 'nuclear weapons' and the news agency was banned by Iran. But now, just as fast, CNN is buddies again with Herr whos-its.

Hokey Smokes. I knew my ex-wife was wrong! Putting a T.V. in your bedroom does cut your sex life in half and now I have proof. HA!

Happy Tuesday and what's up with the NFL?
Can I blame the Broncos win and the Colts loss on global warming?

The good, the bad & the ugly. And a little weird too.

The good

Doctors, on Friday, released Baby Noor, the 3-month-old Iraqi girl brought to the United States for life-saving medical treatment after being discovered by U.S. soldiers in Baghdad.
Soldiers from the Georgia Army National Guard's 48th Brigade found the baby during a routine "knock-and-search" raid of the family's Baghdad home in December. They worked with U.S. officials and charitable groups to bring Noor to Atlanta for medical treatment. Doctors have said she would have died without surgery for her spina bifida.

Come fly with me to Iraq? Austrian Airlines to offer regular flights to Iraq starting march 9th o the city of Arbil' in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.
AUA is the first European carrier to obtain the right to offer commercial flights to Iraq, the company said.

Iraq's most productive oil refinery has reopened after closing for 10 days under the threat of insurgent attacks. The Beiji oil refinery is located about 150 miles north of Baghdad.


And Iraq
resumes southern oil exports at Basra after being closed shortly for bad weather. Basra is Iraq's main export outlet, and exported around 1.1 million barrels per day last month.

The bad

A CIA backed/initiated/orchestrated (hells bells. They did it. Ok?!) missle attack in the village of Damadola, some 200 kilometers northwest of Islamabad, had deadly 'collateral' consequences when it missed its apparent target, Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant.
Can someone get a handle on these spooks??

the ugly

Why does anybody listen to this guy?
Iran's president, Herr whos-its, wants to host a conference to assess the scale and consequences of the Holocaust. He recently described the Holocaust as a "myth".
And I seriously doubt Herr whos-its' madness has a method with this nuke showdown against the west. The reason is the unintended consequence of making U.S. president George Bush look like a brilliant diplomat and international leader to the rest of the world. The leftist utopians are wetting their britches on this one. HA!

The looney tune tree huggers and green violence thugs are at it again. Only this time, down under. Not only do they collide with Japanese whaling ships, the green violence thugs are endangering their own lives with illegal antics during the whale kill.
Maybe the Japs are hunting the wrong mammal.
Just kidding!.
Sheeesh.

Finally. A little weird.

Are sure giving elephants vodka is a good thang?

Thank you and have a great Monday.
Tip your waitress, not cows.

It ain't boy scout camp

That's right.
There have been no earth shaking discoveries of WMDs. Yet.
(pssst. syria, i tell ya! SYRIA!)
But there has been an awful lot of evidenced deciphered from mountains of captured Iraqi documents concerning Saddam aiding and abetting the training of thousands of islamo-fascists in guerilla warfare tactics and the art of terrorism. A great article by Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard.
Saddam's Terror Training Camps

So what. Who Are Those Guys?
Understanding the ties between Ansar al Islam, the GSPC, the Sudanese Islamic Army, and al Qaeda.
Another great article written by Dan Darling and published in the Weekly Standard.

Flotsam and jetsam again

Somebody stop me! I'm turning Chinese. So sue me.

Here's yet another article on China. This one from Thomas Sowell about how the common folk in China are lifting themselves out of poverty. And just what great googly-moogly government program did the communist government over there implement to achieve this rise from poverty? Try capitalism and providing for ones own self interest.
'The only thing that can cure poverty is wealth. The Chinese acquired wealth the old-fashioned way: They created it.'
Do you think the leftist utopians in the west will take notice? Just a thought.

It looks like Iran and its pursuit of operational nuclear technology is still in the news. But what these Iranians really want is a good game of basketball. And the youth of Iran want a new way of life. The times they are a-changin'.

No matter how much things change, they somehow stay the same. Like little girls. Even in the middle east they want dolls and the decadent western clothes hog, Barbie, just doesn't cut it anymore. Meet Fulla.
"Fulla, the Muslim doll, is now thought to be the best-selling girl's toy in the Arab world, two years after she first came on the market, displacing her Western rival, Barbie..."
Now I'm not advocating that western females wear a hijab, but they sure could learn a thing or two about modest attire (we don't really need to know what color thong you're wearing).

And, even in Iraq, life goes on as little girls still want to be ballet dancers.

Back in the west, on a more serious note, liberal democratic leader Kennedy has resigned his post after admitting to a serious problem with alcohol. It's about time this sot left congress.
Kennedy has long plagued the senate with his socialist blathering and rambling tirades that often hindered republicans.....oops.
Never mind.

But this is almost as good.
Ted Kennedy, the U.S. senator, has written a children's book to teach children about how the American government works. A dog is one of the main characters in the book and presents 'A Dogs-Eye View of Washington, D.C'.
The dog's name is 'Splash'.
Seriously.
Next up: 'my cat, mary jo'.
Oh. That's bad.

This just in: Bin Laden is still dead.
And who the heck is Howard Stern and why does anybody care?

Happy Tuesday and stay warm!

Must be all that global warming

Ok.
So I got a thing for China lately. Bear with me.

"Almost 250,000 people in north-western China have been trapped by heavy snowfall, as the country faces its worst winter in 20 years."

I'm always amazed at the constant whine of 'global warming', 'global warming' from the leftist utopian i-hate-america crowd when stories like this fly in the face of those chicken little types.
And the disaster doesn't end there.
Japan is experiencing its worst winter in 60 years with reports of record cold and snowfall. As many as 56 people have been reported dead as a result of the harsh weather. If anyone knows of links or other info to contribute to relief efforts in either disaster, post them here.

Also, because of all that 'global warming', the Baffin Bay narwhals are having a hard time in their habitat over by Greenland. Narwhals are the so-called 'unicorn whales' because of their sharply protruding snout. According to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, the bay is icing up and has been for many decades. Despite the article's obligatory bias toward wanting global warming, the article concludes:
'Satellite data collected over the last two and a half decades shows a trend toward increasing ice coverage of the bay. Climate change models predict that this trend could continue for the next 50 years'.

And on the other side of the globe, the Goddard Space Flight Center published a report back in Aug., 2002 that satellite imagery confirms an overall increase in Antarctic sea ice. 2005 update here.

Is global warming real?
Sort of but it has little to do with human influence. The warming is more like a fluctuation in the life cycle of this rock. Another ice age is predicted by some computer models. The ebb and flow of this planet's geology and the wildly fluctuating effects of that small star off our horizon scrambles this planet's climate much more than mankind's meddling ever could. And don't forget that monthly marvel the moon which floodels the ocean levels constantly. We are so full of our own self importance that we project ourselves onto a planetary scale when we are nothing more than tiny mammals making a mere dent into the life of this rock.

Much ado about nothing really.
Our smarty pants ego and myopic world view often clouds our judgement and heats the discussion past boiling, but the subject does sell newspapers rather well. There's a lot of money is at stake and many careers in the balance as to who is right on this one.

What I see is a planet that has been around for many eons with many a change under its belt (much of it cataclysmic) and it is still rotating in a very clock work manner. It will still be here long after we are gone.

Hokey smokes! The web gremlins smiled.

A great big honkin' thank you to Chris Muir & company over at Day by Day cartoon. Even though I'm just an amateur hack at this blog stuff, Chris was gracious enough to add this rambling blog to his blogroll list.
pssst, chris. I'll pony up that large fin when the feds are napping. fyi. mums the word.

Thanks again!

Hi, Holly. I love you!

Stan the man and the oil chugging panda

Meet Stan.
Meet Stan's brother, Stan.
And his other brother Stan and....you get the idea.
There five in all; Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Their more famous cousins, Afghanistan and Pakistan will not be discussed here. Of the five brothers, three share borders with the western most edge of China and since the new millennium, some of the brothers have been actively engaged in delivery of natural gas and oil to China and strengthening ties with Russia.

Meet the oil guzzling panda. China is the largest consumer of oil after the US, and the world's biggest producer and consumer of coal. China gets its oil supply from as far away as the Sudan and also from Iran.
It now has the world's fastest-growing economy and is undergoing what has been described as a second industrial revolution. China is hungry for energy to keep its economy growing and the five brothers, along with Russia are keen to exploit potential transit routes for their resources through Central Asia.

Kazakhstan is ahead of the game. With a land mass twice that of Texas and large oil reserves, Kazakhstan has the potential for becoming one of central Asia's richest countries. In an agreement to sell its oil to China, Kazakhstan has built a 600 mile long pipeline from its Caspian sea oil wells to its border with China. It is the first major export pipeline from the landlocked Central Asian republic which does not cross Russia.

Not to be outdone, southern brother Turkmenistan will sign a major agreement this year to
sell natural gas to China and jointly develop Turkmen gas fields. A gas pipeline from eastern Turkmenistan to China is to be built to facilitate the transfer of natural gas. Turkmenistan has large reserves of natural gas and currently sells to its immediate neighbor, Iran, in addition to Russia and Ukraine.

Caught between these two brothers is Uzbekistan. It has very little to offer in the way of natural resources for export and its only recent claim to fame is expelling the U.S. from its air base there. Uzbekistan has also asked European troops within NATO to leave its territory. Uzbekistan recently signed a mutual defense pact with Russia.

The two smallest brothers, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are no more than pawns butted up against China's western border.
Kyrgyzstan does not benefit from the wealth of natural resources possessed by some of its neighbors. It walks a strange tight rope between east and west with U.S. forces stationed at the city of Bishkek's Manas airport and Russian rapid reaction forces deployed at the Kant airbase. The Russian forces are stationed just 30 km from their U.S. counterparts.

Tajikistan is the most battered of the five. Resource poor, impoverished and struggling with the aftermath of a civil war that ended in 1997, Tajikistan is often the haven of drug smugglers from Afghanistan and Islamic radicals seeking to set up camp in the rugged, barren country. In October 2004 Russia formally opened a military base in the city of Dushanbe. Russia also took back control of a former Soviet space monitoring center at Nurek. These developments were widely seen as a sign of Russia's wish to counter increased US influence in Central Asia.

So what's it all mean?
At stake in these geopolitical power struggles are control and access to vast natural resources bought through tenuous alliances. I predict the U.S. will be frozen out of this new 'great game' by the colossal influence of Russian economic power and China's humongous appetite for energy.

Meet the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Happy reading and stay warm.
Oh.
And don't forget to thank your natural gas supplier.

Drill ANWAR!
(yeah, baby)

Passing gas: the new cold war

Happy new year to one and all! Did you stay warm over the holidays?

Oil and gas.
Most people in the world direct their attention to the middle east when those two words are mentioned. But forget about the blistering desert heat, the troubled Saudi royal family and the turmoil in Iraq with anemic petroleum production, rising gas prices and ousted oil ministers. The real power play is taking place at 20 below zero in Siberia.

Meet Gazprom. The former soviet era oil and gas behemoth turned quasi-free market energy giant (51% is still owned by the state). Gazprom is the world's largest natural gas company and is lifeblood of the Russian economy, generating billions of roubles for the state. It also owns the gas-transportation system and most of the gas fields in Russia, much of which are in Siberia. Despite the bitterly hostile conditions, many Russians gladly accept the well paying jobs and company perks that go with employment so far from home. In a further attempt for Gazprom to exercise its energy muscles, Russia and Germany signed a $5 billion deal (american) for a natural gas pipeline to run under the Baltic Sea. The pipeline will bypass Poland and the Baltic countries and give Russia access to new markets.

But all is not well on the giant eurasian continent. An icy cold attempt at price hikes has been taking place between Russia and Europe during the coldest days of 2005. Caught in the middle is Ukraine and its gateway supply routes to Europe. Gazprom plans to increase the price of gas to Ukraine to $230 (american) per 1000 cubic meters from the current $50 (american). That $50 price level reflects the still suffocating grip of antiquated Soviet-era subsidised rates. Ukraine agrees in principle with a price hike but wants a transitional period. Moscow does not want to wait and a nervous Europe watched as Moscow shut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine in a strong arm attempt to force the rapid price hike. Just as quickly, Moscow turned the gas pipelines back on when it caved in to worldwide reaction.

I don't believe we have heard the last of these Russian growing pains. The energy rich Russians, who's conquest and empire used to be secured by armies and weapons, have quickly learned that commodities and capitalism influence more than brute force.
Russia will soon look ever eastward to bolster its new found geo-political influence and it will find willing accomplices hungry for energy, foreign investments and modernization.

Next up: Stan the man and his oil guzzling panda!