From Russia, With Love...

Paul Krugman
Dana Milbank
Thomas PM Barnett

"Why are Obama's approval numbers caving? Well, he closed Club Gitmo, but it's open. He got us out of Iraq, but we're still there. He stimulated the economy, but nearly 600,000 more people lost their jobs today." - Rush Limbaugh


Vladimer Putin is the new Internatioal Man of Mystery, always in shape and in charge, and the Kremlin recently released a slew of pictures taken during his recent vacation in Siberia, as reported by the BBC: "Mr Putin is shown standing on a rocky mountain slope; resting in the branches of a tree; swimming in a river; riding a horse. In most of the photos, he wears military-style clothes and boots. In the equestrian shots, he is shirtless. In a country where most men do not live until the age of 60, Mr Putin stands out as an example of someone who has looked after himself." During his vacation, which was filmed by Russian television, he dived down one mile in Lake Baikal, shot a Siberian tiger with a tranquilizer dart, swam in a raging river, chopped down trees with his bare hands, and waved to Sarah Palin from his campground... Previously, he had made a video showing his judo prowess. He is truly Russia's Marleboro Man, even if the pictures of him riding on horseback and posing shirtless reminds you more of a cowboy outed in Brokeback Mountain... Barack Obama, who also has been photographed shirtless, has upped the ante by challenging Mr Putin to a game of pickup basketball...

The BBC also reports that: "The Association of Iranian Journalists have been closed. The decision was taken by the Iranian judiciary... It said 42 journalists were currently in detention in Iran, with three opposition journalists having been arrested this week." Not only is Iran keeping foreign journalists out of its country, it is arresting those it finds, including Iranian journalists. Next, it will probably go after bloggers, it is already trying to block much of the Intenet, including Twitter and Facebook. Would you want to follow Mahmoud's tweets?

CQPolitics has a blog called Spytalk, which reports a rather embarrassing tale that happened before the Senate Intelligence Committee: "When Steven Aftergood read Adm. Dennis C. Blair's written responses to a Senate Intelligence Committee questionnaire the other day, something looked familiar.

And indeed, it was.

The Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), had given the committee a statement about Russian attacks on American spy satellites that "was simply lifted, almost word for word," from a Moscow newspaper, Aftergood reported Thursday in Secrecy News, the must-read newsletter he's edited for many years. "The DNI repeated the Nezavisimaya Gazeta item nearly verbatim, presenting it as an established fact, with no attribution at all." Good thing the Senate has all left today for their summer break, so there will be no real follow up to this incident other than can we trust what Admiral Blair will say to us in an official capacity? Actually, these top dogs don't do their own writing or research, it was done by some aide who just joined the ranks of the unemployed...

Today's human interest story is a bit sad, as reported by Politico: "Jenny Sanford, South Carolina’s first lady, announced Friday that she is moving out of the governor’s mansion...
...The Sanford family just returned from a two-week trip to Europe, for which they left roughly a month after the governor admitted to an affair with an Argentine mistress. The governor’s first day back at work was Thursday.

The governor’s wife played a key role throughout the scandal, taking a primary role in getting Sanford’s GOP rivals in the state Legislature to quiet calls for his resignation. Both she and her husband have said repeatedly that they intend to remain married and work out the problems caused by the affair, a sentiment Jenny repeated Friday." It looks like not even a trip to Europe could get her to sleep with Mark Sanford again, did he try diamonds like Kobe?It takes time to deal with the anger and feelings of betrayal and desertion. Lots of times there isn't the strength of will to work through the morass, and divorce proceedings begin, leaving one to wander lonely down the old Appalachian Trail...

Sorry, no late night jokes today...