Russian Cartoonist Portrays Obama, McCain, Palin, Ukraine

Sergei Elkin (spelled yol-kin) is the king of political cartoons in Russia, famous for his satirical takes on Russian, Ukrainian and world leaders.

What sets him apart from Kremlin propagandists is his relatively balanced and multidirectional approach.

Here’s how he frames the U.S. presidential race. “Plan Putina” refers to Putin’s Plan; the cartoon addresses Palin’s recent remark on Obama and Ukraine.

Elkin appears to be an LJ user. His works can also be found at:
http://www.elkin.ru/engl_index.html
http://www.rian.ru/caricature/20081028/153934395.html
http://caricatura.ru/master/elkin/
http://ex.by/2008/05/23/prikolnye_karikatury_elkina_2_43_shtuk.html
http://sergei-elkin.blogspot.com/

Images:
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3303/elkin99.5/0_19d0a_ca30b245_XL.jpg http://plakat.censor.net.ua/pic/posters/very_big/1224857514.jpg

Palin: Obama’s Stance "Would Only Encourage Russia’s Putin to Invade Ukraine Next"

Never before has Ukraine been as frequently mentioned in a U.S. presidential race as it is mentioned these days.

Speaking at a rally in Reno, Nevada, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said this about Ukraine:

After the Russian army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence — the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.

Note: The remark comes 1:45 into the video.

Shushannah Walshe at Fox News did a blog posting on Palin’s speech, drawing more than a hundred comments, one which I would like to quote, partially:

Comment by BradKT
October 21st, 2008 at 4:12 pm

People…think this through. Do you actually think that the United States should go to war with Russia over its invasion of Georgia…or if it invades the Ukraine? I don’t think so…and neither does the Bush Administration.

This comment made me want to trot out the same old lines:

Dear BradKT,

Just think about it: If Russia invades Ukraine, oil will be trading at above $300 a barrel.

Of course, you won’t have to go to war with Russia. But you will be spending more on defense and humanitarian aid. Besides, the war will create a huge black market supply of conventional weapons plus, quite possibly, radioactive material. Do you actually think it will benefit your country?

You and I will be better off if you elect a president who will spare no foreign policy effort to make Russia’s invasion cost-prohibitive.

All the best from the Ukraine,

Taras

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/10/22/83289.htm
http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/21/palin-hits-obama-for-stance-she-expressed-support-for/
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/10102

Palin: “Ukraine, Definitely, Yes.”

Liberals: Orange Revolution

Not that I’m a big fan of Republicans (or Democrats, for that matter), but I do like this one. Watch the most "uncut" version of Sarah Palin's ABC News interview, as it relates to Ukraine, with the full transcript below.

GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

GIBSON: What insight does that give you into what they're doing in Georgia?

PALIN: Well, I'm giving you that perspective of how small our world is and how important it is that we work with our allies to keep good relation with all of these countries, especially Russia. We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relationship with our allies, pressuring, also, helping us to remind Russia that it's in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.

Sarah Palin on Russia:

We cannot repeat the Cold War. We are thankful that, under Reagan, we won the Cold War, without a shot fired, also. We've learned lessons from that in our relationship with Russia, previously the Soviet Union.

We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relationship with our allies, pressuring, also, helping us to remind Russia that it's in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.

GIBSON: Would you favor putting Georgia and Ukraine in NATO?

PALIN: Ukraine, definitely, yes. Yes, and Georgia.

GIBSON: Because Putin has said he would not tolerate NATO incursion into the Caucasus.

PALIN: Well, you know, the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO.

Putin thinks otherwise. Obviously, he thinks otherwise, but...

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn't we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help.

But NATO, I think, should include Ukraine, definitely, at this point and I think that we need to -- especially with new leadership coming in on January 20, being sworn on, on either ticket, we have got to make sure that we strengthen our allies, our ties with each one of those NATO members.

We have got to make sure that that is the group that can be counted upon to defend one another in a very dangerous world today.

GIBSON: And you think it would be worth it to the United States, Georgia is worth it to the United States to go to war if Russia were to invade.

PALIN: What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against. We have got to be cognizant of what the consequences are if a larger power is able to take over smaller democratic countries.

And we have got to be vigilant. We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia. The support that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps against Russia, if this is what it leads to.

It doesn't have to lead to war and it doesn't have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries.

His mission, if it is to control energy supplies, also, coming from and through Russia, that's a dangerous position for our world to be in, if we were to allow that to happen.

As a Ukrainian living next door to Russia, that’s the U.S. foreign policy I prefer, given the key role that the Clinton administration played in stripping my country of its nuclear deterrent.

Of course, I do know about the Christian fundamentalism of U.S. conservatives, just as I know about the Russophile pacifism of U.S. liberals. Both worldviews spell disaster. Now, isn't it funny how most YouTube videos omit the part where Palin emphasizes the need not to repeat the Cold War and mentions the Orange Revolution?

Could it be that Bush’s cowboy interventionism has slapped some childish isolationism into U.S. liberals, making democratic movements like the Orange Revolution an inconvenient truth? Oh, I forgot. It was all a “neocon CIA plot!”

With my country stuck between an expansionist Russia and a split West, I want a U.S. President who is neither too hard nor too soft on Russia.

As of today, most Ukrainians, and Russified Ukrainians especially, know little about NATO other than what they learned in Soviet history textbooks. Naturally, they do not want Ukraine to join NATO. Ironically, they do want Ukraine to join the EU.

Since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, joining NATO has become a prerequisite — the prerequisite — for joining the EU. No Eastern European country has become an EU member without first becoming a NATO member.

I believe that Ukraine’s nonalignment puts us in the danger zone. I want Ukraine to join NATO and, ultimately, the EU while remaining a good neighbor of Russia, not a good banana republic of Russia.

Therefore, either Ukraine will join NATO, or the Kremlin will be tempted to repeat the Georgian scenario in eastern Ukraine. It’s as simple as that, Uncle Sam.

In the first case, you’ll get a 45-million country with a defense industry unmatched by any other fresh NATO member country. In the second case, you’ll get a conflict rivaling the war in Yugoslavia, plus millions of refugees and a major spike in your defense budget.

You decide.

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNPGnZurs1k
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5782924