Pictures of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have surfaced, showing that even a wild beast can't overcome the defiant Russian leader. Putin saved a television crew and a group of scientists from a rare Ussuri tiger that escaped, while he visited a national park to learn how the scientists monitor the endangered animals.
Yesterday Britain urged the EU to stop talks between itself and Russia about building a closer relationship. Britain's PM Gordon Brown went as far to say that Russia's membership in the G8 should be suspended. Attention to forging a stronger East-West relationship began in 1997, but leaders in Russia want a more expansive cooperation agreement. Putin says he's not too concerned with EU threats, since European self-interest will keep the countries from acting rashly toward Russia.
Apparently the US and Russia can agree on one thing — saving the world's remaining 400 Ussuri tigers, "the biggest cat(s) on the planet," according to Putin. Putin has praised the US for its efforts in saving the cats.
Do you have any hope that the West can save good relations with Russia?
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Rocket Dog
Sessun
DC
''Putin saved a television crew and a group of scientists from a rare Ussuri tiger that escaped ... ''
*cough* propaganda *cough*
1And I say Go Britain. It's nice to know someone in the EU has a pair.
2i don't know why - but i can't imagine seeing putin tranquilize a tiger to save the crew and all - but i guess if it happened it happened.
i can respect the EU's position on things with allowing Russia to be part of the G8, but it's one of those things that you kind of have to consider for the future. with the way that Russia has changed over the past several decades, does it make sense to unite with them now, knowing that they will continue to evolve or is it something that should just be placed on hold until they are able to really commit to what the EU wants?
3Who knew that "crew" in Russian directly translates into "Vladimir Putin"...shifty, shifty!!!
4No heart himself.
5This simply HAS to be true, considering how much Putin cares about the lives of innocent civilians.
6So he has a black belt and can subdue huge tigers. That man is terrifying.
7Chuck Norris better watch his back!
8
9No one can defeat him! Not even a tiger. What chance do we have against such a leader?
10I smell a staged rescue.
11Of course the EU wants Russia. I think it's ridiculous and very racist for the EU to push into Eastern Europe and its deliberate indecision over Turkey's submission.
12oops, sorry for the typo. i meant, I think it's ridiculous that the EU is so accommodating to Russia, while it was so reluctant to take Turkey's submission into the Union.
13The relationship between Russia and the EU is not as simple as black and white. Having lived in the UK for many years and in Finland now for a full single year, I can honestly say that you need to be more immersed in the philosophies of a country before you can expound on whether or not they have "balls".
While I am no fan of Putin, there are countless economic/trade/energy relationships between these countries and Russia (Finland included) which require a degree of decorum and diplomacy. Europe - including my present home country of Finland - well know that. The relationship is not one-sided, and there are mutual benefits in maintaining a positive direction and resolving the issues at hand.
Its not a matter of "balls", this is not America's playground and bravado does not make policy here.
You can't just stomp around the planet every time you have a black-and-white opinion on a country, and you definitely cannot do that with the EU since each country has its own level of interest or non-interest in the Russians.
Like it or not, the behaviour comes down to economics and money, and trade - something people in the USA should well understand given the USA's "priorities" in whom they deal with, and whom they do not. If it was about civil rights America would have called China out long ago. But they won't..because they can't afford to, period.
Turkey was a tricky issue and its still hotly debated, and I can see both sides of this issue.
On the one hand, people argue that Turkey should never have been asked in the first place, and that its not European to begin with, and that basic civil rights requirements are still falling short.
On the other hand, not allowing them in can be seen as divisive and exclusionary, and making them wait a virtual decade has resulted in some less-than-positive relations with a country that has - if looked at from a historical perspective - a rich and long history of diversity, of trade with nations from both the west and the east, and a complicated social fabric.
At the end of the day the UK is a mess right now and in no position to judge jack squat - Gordon Brown is lucky he is still in office, since he was left to clean up Blair's mess he is in dire straits with his own population, and is largely ineffectual.
14As my Finnish boyfriend just added to this thread whilst we discussed it:
"Its not about having the balls. Its about having a brain."
I will leave that one un-edited.
15If nothing else, the current relationship between the West and Russia should illuminate that communism had nothing to do with the cold war. It was a war for economic trading interests and nothing more. We are still trying to contain a "democratic" Russia with as much vigor as we did the communist variety. They have access to natural resources such as gas and wheat and will soon be the next economic superpower in the next five years.
As for Turkey, the West has always used them as a barrier against the Russians. From Catherine the Great to WWI to the EU.
16Frightening photos.
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