Daily Archives: 03/14/2014

(Community Matters) Egomaniac explains a lot. As they say power corrupts . . . and Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been the ruler of Russia for 14 years. Politico asked more than a dozen Putin experts to share their insights & analysis:

He responds to Western threats of sanctions by threatening to confiscate Western assets in Russia.

He has made a bet that the members of the British ruling class are merely valets to Arab and Russian oligarchs—estate agents, investment bankers, lawyers, management consultants, art dealers—who now live primarily off the presence of foreign oligarchs. . . . It could be otherwise. Iran-style banking sanctions imposed by London—the hub of the Russian fortune—could stop the Kremlin annexing Crimea by punishing the oligarchs and making them pull Putin back from his adventurism. Washington should fret: London and the lesser European states are now dragging their feet. Cameron is only contemplating cosmetic mini-sanctions, not big banking hits. He is weak, but what else could the leader of the ruling Conservative Party—forever the Rottweiler of the City of London—even propose?

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(Community Matters) I welcome disparate voices in conversations on homosexuality and our equality. And, I certainly trust Ezra Klein to be a judicious editor. Brandon Ambrosino shows real promise as a thinker and writer, and his writings have been misreported. He feels a little Jonathan Swift to me actually, maybe with a little Brothers Grimm’s witch.

We haven’t won progress over the years by tightening our circles but by expanding them and hosting real conversations – and yes, by protests & demands too. In Towelroad – Anger Grows at Ezra Klein For Hiring Gay Writer Who Fuels the Animus of Anti-Gay Conservatives. 

I’m eager for Kip’s take on this.