The Russian spirit never died out

Bush, speaking in Moscow of World War II, says “The people of Russia suffered incredible hardship, and yet the Russian spirit never died out,” adding, “Not like the fucking French.”

Bush is of course in Moscow to celebrate the anniversary of V-E Day. The Moscow police are advising everyone else to celebrate by staying home because there will be “frequent document checks and other unprecedented security measures”. The Russian spirit really does never die out. This picture of a freedom-loving Katyusha rocket, ready for its role in the parade, is from the Moscow Times.



Shrub failed to bring up that whole occupation-of-the-Baltics thing with Putin, or Putin’s contention that the collapse of the Soviet Union was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” and what I especially enjoy is the spectacle of Stephen Hadley (who has Condi Rice’s old job) first refusing even to say whether Bush agreed with that assessment or not, then calling the reporter back to say that of course the end of Communism was a, ya know, good thing.

The WaPo gets some reactions by other members of Congress to poor Tom DeLay’s ethics problems. But while it contextualizes Barney Frank’s comments by noting that he was “embroiled in an ethics contretemps of his own in the 1980s,” they quote Henry Hyde without mentioning any of his “youthful indiscretions.”