Saturday, October 18, 2008

He does have one friend

Apparently one country has recognized the rather curious independent status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that consists of them being part of Russia and controlled by Russian troops: Nicaragua, once again controlled by the egregious Daniel Ortega.
Consider the rogue's gallery that refused to go along: Hugo Chávez's Venezuela, the Castros' Cuba, Bolivia, Iran and Syria. The club of seven authoritarian former Soviet republics known as the Collective Security Treaty Organization also demurred. Even Moscow's puppet autocrat in Belarus, Aleksander Lukashenko, deferred to his toothless parliament; in other words, nyet, for now. Russia was rebuffed by China and India at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
...

In addition to Mr. Ortega, Russia did manage recognition by Hamas, Hezbollah and the Moldovan regions of Gaugazia and Trans-Dniester. But that is little solace for a Kremlin whose bigger goal in the war was to declare a Monroe-ski Doctrine for its "near abroad" and lead a new anti-American block.
Then again, it has always seemed pretty clear to me that, despite all the bullying swagger President Prime Minister Putin and his teddy bear, President Medvedev, tend to lose heavily when it comes to dealing with other countries.

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