Should Alaskan's start learning Russian?

Hi All
I just found this article in my town's newspaper- Anchorage Daily News.

Here is the link: www.adn.com...

And the link to the 1993 story: query.nytimes.com...


Here is the short excerpt from the newspaper today-

"Should we all start learning Russian? A segment of the APRN show "AK" over the weekend looks at some Russians' affection for the prospect of getting Alaska back. The idea is a favorite of one-time Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose desire for the return of Alaska to the Russian fold was discussed in this New York Times story of 1993, when Zhirinovsky surprised people with a respectable showing in elections that year.

Now Zhirinovsky is indicating he may run again in 2008. The APRN story notes that some Russians interpret the 1867 deal that sold Alaska to the United States as not a sale at all but a lease. Now this group not only wants the state back but wants to be compensated for the resources that have been taken out of the state.

***

While there should be no panic on this yet, I believe that this should be watched intently in the coming months ahead. It could get pretty interesting if this guy runs and actually wins...I will say this much...Alaskans won't go down without a fight, that is for sure...

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www.abovetopsecret.com...


[edit on 24/12/07 by masqua]

Very interesting! Im not sure how it is down in Anchorage area....but up here in Fairbanks there are TONS of Russians here. I would assume they come here for school and to work.

Ive been to Russia and used to know a bit of Russian. Maybe its time to pull out the books from storage? LOL

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Hi there!
Haven't talked to you in awhile, hope you are well...Yeah there are a lot of Russians here as well-especially in the valley. I have no offense against them- in fact I lived in the Ukraine for a month at one time, they are wonderful people...but I tell you what-I won't tolerate some of them trying to take our state...forget that!


Hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

Dah, dah, dah. Russian Standard Platinum one at sub-zero and ten at room temp for company.

"Russkie Standart"at room temp for business.

There's no puttin' Putin away. Z's his. Everything is or can be'. It was too late 7 years ago and before. Ever play chess? Less pieces on the board these times.

One command. We're dead. There will either be accomodation or there won't. Everyone wins or everyone loses. He is popular too. Quite a machine.

Zhelayu tebe schast'ya i zdorov'ya!Schastlivogo rozhdestva Schastlivogo Novogo goda!

trans: I wish you health and happiness Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.

Hey NORAD has picked up Santa!!!!!

Vic

Zhirinovsky.......

Listening to this guy and making assumptions that any bull**** that comes out of his mouth is serious, or that it is even the slightest indication of reality of anything that is going on in Russian politics, is about the same as believing that a fat man dressed in red is going to tumble down your chimney tonight.

Plain and simple, Zhirinovsky is the Comedy Central for Russian politics. He and his party is what makes retarded people and wanna-be nationalist fruitcakes in Russia retain some trust in active Russian parties, and not go berserk. He makes twice as much sense when he is drunk than when he is sober, in part because he forgets his comedy sketch when he is drunk.

The chances of his winning any election are about as good as the chances of all non-retarted and non-nationalist fruitcake population of Russia suddenly dieing out.


So if any Alaskans out there see Zhirinovsky with a pitch fork trying to tackle down your barricades, just hand him a few bottles of vodka and he will go away untill he is sober again.

reply to post by maloy


Thats what many people were saying about Bush. Look how that ended up.

Yes, but in Russia the vast majority of people (+90%) recognize Zhirinovsky for the clown he is.

Moreover, he will never be allowed to win the election, because he is financed by the very people in power (read Putin).

Zhirinovsky is employed by the Kremlin, and by the ruling administration of the time (both Yeltsin's and Putin's). His job in elections in the parliament, is pretending to take up seats for nationalist nutjobs, thus preventing actual nationalist nutjobs from climbing to power and getting anywhere near parliament. He is a political puppet - an opposition party to the ruling administration that is actually funded by the ruling administration behind the scenes. Zhirinovsky is a caricature of Russian politics drawn by none other than the President and the ruling party.


Thus he is nothing more than a clown. He acts (key word - acts) as radical opposition, but most of his speeches are inversely related to the President's and the country's current concerns.

So were Putin and Russia were concerned about US invading Iraq, Zhirinovsky played his role by threatening to get a group of Russian nutjobs and go defend Iraq and act as human shields. When Russia supports Iran, Zhirinovsky calls US the great devil and promises to go help Iran and single handedly build a nuke for them. When Russia is fighting Chechen separatists he claims that Islamists and Islam must be destroyed in Russia and ethnic minorities must be taken care off. When Putin has a strife with US, Zhirinovsky threatens to take back Alaska.

His threats are empty. They add but a comic relief. But they do overtly hint at the sentiments of Russian radicals, who would pursue similar although subdued rhetorics if they had access to power.

Look up National Bolsheviks and their leader Limonov in Russia for example. These are the real radicals, who are kept away (thank god) from the parliament and even higher ambitions thanks to puppets like Zhirinovsky. Not surprisingly the National Bolsheviks and Limonov are among the main critics of Putin and of current Russian politics, because they are kept away from parliament and from access media.