Whether They Want To or Not.

Top official: Russians will ‘eat less’ for Putin

Jan 23, 8:18 AM (ET)

By CARLO PIOVANO and NATALIYA VASILYEVA

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, on Friday warned the West against trying to topple President Vladimir Putin and said that Russians are ready to sacrifice their wealth in Putin’s support.

Russia has for the past year been sliding into recession amid a slump in its energy export prices as well as Western sanctions against Moscow’s role in the conflict in Ukraine that has claimed more than 5,000 lives. Questions have been raised in Russia and abroad whether the price that ordinary Russians are having to pay for the annexation of Crimea is too high.

Shuvalov, who is believed to be one of the richest men in the government, said that what he considers the West’s attempts to oust Putin will only unite the nation further.

“When a Russian feels any foreign pressure, he will never give up his leader,” Shuvalov said. “Never. We will survive any hardship in the country — eat less food, use less electricity.”

Shuvalov’s comments triggered pithy remarks on Russia social media including an opposition activist who posted photos of Shuvalov’s Moscow, London and Austria homes to illustrate where the deputy prime minister would experience the hardships he described.

At the same panel in Davos, Putin’s long-time ally and former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said that Putin clearly thinks that Russia’s foreign policy interests at this point are worth the price the nation pays in higher inflation and the collapse of the Russian ruble.

Shuvalov, who worked with Kudrin until he resigned from the government in 2011, defended Russia’s foreign policy but warned that Russia is “going into a longer crisis” compared with 2008, when it was battered for about two years by the global crisis.

Shuvalov said Russia should focus on cushioning the economic fall through reforms and supporting the financial system. “It is going to get worse and the anti-crisis plan should be aimed at adapting to the hard landing,” he said.

Russia’s foreign currency reserves shrank by 2 percent last week alone to $379 billion as the Central Bank sold foreign currency in a bid to prop up the ruble.

Russians have a very Long, Sad History of ‘Eating Less’ and ‘Going Without Electricity’ for Mother Russia.  However, I cannot find a time where that was voluntarily embraced.  A Leader with the Power of Force was perpetually at the Helm.

There are many parallels to the past.  While I do not believe the past repeats itself, it does look more like a copy of a copy of a copy.

History degenerates into some similar but completely different Present.

The problem is it just turns out to be a different ‘bad’.

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Where in the World is President Obama?

President Obama attends Classical Gala in Rome.

After President Obama’s recent sighting on a flight from Moscow to Cuba, he makes a showing at the Vatican for a Classical Gala.  I guess anywhere but in the United States is the place to be… oh, and Kenya.  Anyplace but here and Kenya.

Edward Snowden is So Stupid…

How Stupid is he?

He’s so Stupid he can’t even make his flight on time.

Yep… this Drop Out, Flunky Fool who is probably too Ignorant to tie his shoes missed his scheduled, well publicized, flight from Moscow to Cuba.

What a Maroon!

Clearly this guy is an Idiot. A Fool. A Moron.

The best part is he was identified as such in High School…

by none other than our Security Services.

And, because he was so Dumb, they hired him.

That’s right. This Insolent Child… for lack of a better description… was such a Clown that he was singled out to work for the Government when most of us were worried about having enough intelligence to pass our driving test.

So it stands to reason he would do something as ridiculous as miss his flight.

It could not be, in the mind of any serious person, that he might know a bit about proxy chains and mis-direction. Basic fieldcraft would be beyond such a Buffoon. Particularly one that is So Dumb he was recruited in his teens to work at places mere mortals dare not tread.

This also sheds light on such emotional theatrics associated with his hysterical claim someone might want him dead.

How insane!

This Swivel-eyed Loon should be left to his own paranoid fantasy world.

He might just drive his car too fast and have a mechanical problem resulting in it bursting into flames.

How exactly can this Ignoramus be such a danger to the U.S. Domestic Spying Agencies?  Why on Earth would this Bozo think a Government who see’s no limit to their power, so long as no one knows what they are doing, would want to kill him?  What kind of Ego must it take to come to such a conclusion?  What a Dim Wit.

Strange that none of us are buying this.

This guys is not a hero… but, to his credit, it doesn’t appear he is a traitor either.  (Yet… we’re watching.)

Shedding light upon the U.S. Government Spying on American Citizens who have committed no crime simply does not qualify as treason.  At least not to the American People.