Russia is not anyone’s domain. Russia will work these things out — together with our partners and friends. That woulld be Iran, North Korea and Hamas. The Presidents and Prime Ministers at the G8 can raise whatever they want. But the more it is seen that the West is putting pressure on, the more it will strengthen President Putin, because in essence his position is very close to the aspirations of the people. He means President Putin is going to do the right things all by himself, of course, just like the Politburo voluntarily surrendered the Communist government to Boris Yeltsin and Stalin voluntarily closed the Gulags. I have said myself that Putin has made mistakes. I believe he said Putin should not put butter on his blini, but rather sour cream, as there is less risk of heart disease. But the principles of democracy are realised in a specific context, and you have to bear in mind the Russian historical, economic and social situation. The "context" for democracy in Russia is dictatorship. Why should foreign organisations be involved in the Russian political process? The Orange Revolution in Ukraine was mostly of domestic origin, because people were upset about corruption and angry over the Kuchma regime. Actually, they were also upset about Russian imperialism, weren't they? But there is another factor, that the US Embassy was heavily involved, and of course America has great experience in interfering in the affairs of other countries. Ah yes. Ukraine wouldn't have DREAMED of electing a non-Russian-lackey but for the brainwashing of the United States. Had this same thing been happening in America, I am sure that they would have put an end to outside interference. Quite right, America has poisoned several candidates for the Canadian presidency. Dirty bastards, those yanks. I don’t think many Western Governments are that concerned about these issues. If someone is ‘our son of a bitch’ he is forgiven, but if someone else takes an independent position, they don’t like it. I believe Hitler thought of Auschwitz as an "independent position" and Stalin had a similar view of the gulags. I too have a high opinion of my friend Nursultan Nazarbayev, but in our democratic media he is often criticised for his authoritarian ways. Notice how Gorby doesn't claim to have any RUSSIAN friends? Wonder why . . . . So there are double standards, and triple standards. Yes, and then there are RUSSIAN standards, the lowest of the low. But Russia has not lost a war, Russia is rising and will be rising and some people will find that inconvenient. You heard it hear first, friends. Russia has never lost a war, certainly not in Chechnya, that's a blinding success story! We have heard a lot in the US about building a new American empire. But that train has left the station. This unipolar approach will not happen. In a multipolar world it is difficult to bring order and governance, but any other approach is dangerous. Unfortunately for Gorby, Russia is not only not one of the poles, it's not even one of the pawns. Russia is no less interested than Europe in having reliable supply and demand for oil and gas. Russia needs to finance its reorganisation — what are the sources for this? Yes, building a Neo-Soviet Union certainly doesn't come cheap. After all, how can Russia ever invade and conquer Europe otherwise? First of all, our energy. But I think it is rather strange that the West recommends that we have a free market in our natural gas and, when we start to, the West protests that we are charging market prices. We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. La Russophobe is so far out of the loop! Apparently, Russians have started paying market prices for their gas! Hooray! Maybe they are having presidential debates as well? My, what progress!