Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Haha, the brow beating fading Putin looks a fear-driven austerity guy just now, too .. excerpt from yours ..

And yet, what we’re seeing is a major departure from what Putin and his financial wizards usually do in times of crisis: they spend heavily from Russia’s massive reserves to prop the ruble up. This time, the Kremlin has decided to hold its fire, and save its bullets. “It’s a huge policy shift,” says Alexander Kliment, a director of Russia research at the Eurasia Group. “Putin’s priority is now to preserve Russia’s international reserves as much as possible because he knows he’s going to need them.” Another priority is to prevent a budget deficit. “Because dependence on the outside world is a form of weakness for Putin,” Kliment says. “For all these guys, the 1990s was a period of weakness when Russia had to go hat in hand, asking for money. And they want to avoid that.”
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120201/russias-ruble-value-collapsing-due-sanctions-stagnation

and .. lolol .. guess you saw the China link snide comment came from China's sorta FOX equivalent .. from mine ..

Could the Global Times editorial signal a shifting Chinese attitude about the American leader?

Probably not. Although the Global Times is state-owned and subject to China's censorship laws, the newspaper doesn't function as a direct Communist Party mouthpiece. Instead, the Times is something of a Chinese Fox News, promoting a muscular viewpoint of the country's place in the world. This, unsurprisingly, entails frequent criticism of the United States, with whom China competes for diplomatic influence around the world. .. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/obama-visits-china-global-times/382435/

.. so we have the fading long time schoolyard 'for so many wrong reasons' bully Putin .. the pragmatic and yearning for more power relative newcomer
Xi Jinping .. and particularly now the wise and careful statesmanlike president Obama .. all times are as interesting as they always are .. woowho!