Is President Obama Liberalism’s Gorbachev?
Posted: November 14, 2016 Filed under: Education, Global, History, Russia, Think Tank, White House | Tags: 2003 invasion of Iraq, Cold War, Czech Republic, Donald Trump, European Union, Hillary Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Russians, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States Department of State, Vladimir Putin Leave a commentThe Ruling Class of America is not up to the challenge of leading America in the world, partly because it has engaged for several generations now in a process of reverse merit selection.
“Having been a college professor for many years I saw students become ever more confident of their own intelligence and their own preparation while they were becoming less able to do the most elementary things.”
As the ruling class wannabes, has beens, might’ve beens and I ams gather for today’s inauguration ceremony to offer laud and narcissistic supply to the most perfect exemplar of the ruling class that they have ever seen, Codevilla’s observations about the rapidly imploding ratio of competence to confidence among America’s elite are a breath of contrarian sanity.
“That’s what happens so often to ruling classes: they protect themselves against their competitors. Their greatest interest is in perpetuating their own cushy positions.”
The discussion is available here. Although the first section is devoted to foreign affairs and the second to the ruling class, this column will focus on the second of the two topics. What follows are my notes from the wide ranging and fascinating discussion. I hope you won’t limit yourself to my jottings about the conversation, but go on to the conversation itself. The following is a collection of paraphrased quotes from Codevilla.
“The Soviet system was completely closed. Our system becomes more closed as the years go on….today’s American ruling class differs from even a generation ago…now they come to the ruling class almost exclusively from the most prestigious universities and through institutions which are connected to government.”
The Ruling Class of America is not up to the challenge of leading America in the world, partly because it has engaged for several generations now in a process of reverse merit selection.
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Our ruling class has practiced negative selection for several generations now. I point you to a very, very interesting piece of research by a man called Ron Unz.
“Very few people now rise independent of the ruling class itself: you have to rise through the ruling class to get to the ruling class.”
Ron Unz, a wealthy entrepreneur, has just conducted interesting research on the admissions policies of America’s elite universities and has found that there is an iron quota against Asians in these universities: a limit of roughly 16 percent in these universities, even though the proportion of Asians relative to other ethnic groups among high achievers in the country has risen…they account for something like 40 percent of high achievers in the national merit scholar competition, national math and science competitions, etc.
“Our ruling class rules on the basis of sheer, unearned self-confidence. They are not up to running the nation, its economy, its markets, its school system, its philanthropies or its foreign affairs. It is a ruling class of pygmies who walk on stilts and call themselves giants. They are not giants and the moment the rest of us realize this, the long con is over.”
What you’ve got here is a ruling class in these universities which has perpetuated itself and has become more like itself, and has excluded alien elements. The element most excluded happens to be also the most numerous, which is to say ‘white non-Jewish Americans,’ and hence the overwhelming majority of high achievers. Yet the percentage of white non-Jewish admittees has continued to drop; there is especially a virtual absence of Christians among these admittees. The point being that this ruling class, which is increasingly styling itself as meritocratic, is anything but meritocratic and has renewed itself by cooption. Read the rest of this entry »
Putin Enacts Law Banning ‘Undesirable’ NGOs
Posted: May 24, 2015 Filed under: Global, Russia | Tags: Amnesty International, Civil society, Government of Russia, Human Rights Watch, Moscow Kremlin, Non-governmental organization, RUSSIA, Russians, United States, Vladimir Putin Leave a commentUnder the law, passed by the Russian parliament this week, authorities can ban foreign NGOs and go after their employees, who risk up to six years in prison or being barred from the country
Russian President Vladimir Putin officially enacted a controversial law banning “undesirable” non-governmental organisations, the Kremlin said Saturday, in a move condemned by human rights groups and the United States.
“We are concerned this new power will further restrict the work of civil society in Russia and is a further example of the Russian government’s growing crackdown on independent voices and intentional steps to isolate the Russian people from the world.”
— State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf
The law allows authorities to bar foreign civil society groups seen as threatening Russia’s “defence capabilities” or “consitutional foundations” and go after local activists working with them, the Kremlin statement said.
Supporters presented the law as a “preventative measure”, necessary after the wave of Western sanctions put in place over the Ukraine conflict.
Under the law, passed by the Russian parliament this week, authorities can ban foreign NGOs and go after their employees, who risk up to six years in prison or being barred from the country.
It also allows them to block the bank accounts of the organisations until the NGOs “account for their actions” to the Russian authorities.
Lawmakers cited the need to stop “destructive organisations” working in Russia, which could threaten the “value of the Russian state” and stir up “colour revolutions”, the name given to pro-Western movements seen in some former Soviet republics over the last several years.
Critics have said that the vague wording of the law—which gives Russia’s general prosecutor the right to impose the “undesirable” tag without going to court—could allow officials to target foreign businesses working in Russia. Read the rest of this entry »
Moscow Bling: Gold iPhone with engraving of Vladimir Putin’s head goes on sale for £2,500
Posted: June 28, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Russia | Tags: iPhone, Mail Online, Moscow, President of Russia, Putin, RUSSIA, Russians, Vladimir Putin 1 CommentFor Mail Online, Paul Donnelley writes: Unlike former communist leaders, Vladimir Putin has tried to avoid a cult of personality.
That may all be about to change as Russians and fellow travellers can now show their devotion to the President of Russia with a gold-plated iPhone hand engraved with a portrait of Mr Putin.
The Italian-Russian-owned company Caviar Perna Penna which normally creates alligator skin and diamond-encrusted handsets has made the phone for sale in Russia for 147,000 roubles (£2,500) – it comes with its own display case and accessories.

Golden number:The golden iPhones with the portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the lyrics of the National Anthem on sale at Zhukoffka Plaza shopping centre on Moscow, Russia
The back of the phone is made of 18-carat gold, and below the portrait of President Putin there is a quote from the Russian National Anthem and the double-headed eagle – Russia’s coat of arms.
In a press release, the firm says that the gadget is aimed at ‘patriotic senior government officials and top executives’.
‘It’s time to feel genuine pride and express your position clearly, without further ado.
‘President Vladimir Putin has become a symbol of the new generation, a strong-willed and decisive leader.’
The manufacturers claim that the Caviar Supremo Putin phone is ‘the best way to express patriotism’ for people who move ‘in the highest circles, in which devotion to the homeland will never be an empty shell’…(read more)
Vladimir Putin’s Next Move
Posted: April 21, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Russia, Think Tank, War Room, White House | Tags: Crimea, KIEV, Putin, RUSSIA, Russians, Ukraine, United States, Vladimir Putin 2 CommentsForWorld Affairs Journal, Michael Totten writes: If Vladimir Putin invades Poland, I’ll eat my hat.
It’s not going to happen.
Even so, American ground troops are being deployed there as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. This is the West telling him STOP. He’s not going to invade a European Union or NATO state either way, but we’d end up sending a crazy-weak signal if all we did was collectively shrug.
“Even an unspoken threat of invasion, occupation, and annexation is enough to make Ukraine act with tremendous caution toward Moscow, but if Putin pulls the trigger, Kiev would have nothing left to lose.”
Ukraine still isn’t in NATO, however, and probably never will be, so it’s still vulnerable. Putin can slice it and dice it all over again. The US won’t physically stop him for the same reason he won’t invade Poland. Nobody wants to blow up the world, especially not over this.
So Ukraine’s vulnerable. Pro-Russian militiamen are occupying dozens of government buildings, city halls, and police stations in the eastern part of the country where many ethnic Russians live. It’s hard to say for sure if Putin is egging these people on or if they’re acting on their own, envious of their cousins in Crimea who got to go “home” without moving. Either way, they’re serving Putin’s agenda.
By annexing Crimea, he proved to the world that he’s willing to mutilate Ukraine when it displeases him, which it very much did when it cast off his vassal, Viktor Yanukovych, in February. Read the rest of this entry »
The Rise of The Soviet Empire: Putin’s Zombie Propaganda Reanimates Russian Nationalism
Posted: April 17, 2014 Filed under: History, Russia | Tags: Crimea, Moscow, Putin, RUSSIA, Russians, Soviet, Soviet Union, Vladimir Putin 1 CommentPutin’s use of Soviet-era symbolism has alarmed those already fearful for the country’s democratic institutions
Kathrin Hille writes: Igor Dolutsky finds nothing unusual in disagreeing with everyone around him. In the 35 years he has been teaching history in Moscow schools, his habit of questioning official narratives and challenging political taboos has cost him his job more than once.
“I would argue that for years we have been seeing what you could call the Nazification of the elite.”
— Igor Yakovenko, former head of the Russian Journalists’ Association
But when the mild-mannered 60-year-old tried to discuss Russia’s annexation of Crimea in class, things almost got out of hand. “My students swore at me and said I wasn’t telling the truth,” he says. “Then they said I didn’t love Russia or the Russian people, and told me to leave the country.”
Mr Dolutsky has long been a thorn in the side of Vladimir Putin’s government. Ten years ago the government pulled his history textbook from the curriculum for its critical description of President Putin and its inclusion of unpalatable facts about Soviet history. Today he teaches in a private school, headed by a friend from his university days, which allows Mr Dolutsky to continue to talk about the Soviet Union’s occupation of the Baltic states, discuss whether Russia committed genocide in Chechnya and label Mr Putin’s changes to the political system a coup d’état.
But Moscow’s annexation of Crimea has set off rapid and drastic changes that threaten to submerge such outposts of dissent. In a speech marking the consummation of Russia’s union with the Black Sea peninsula on March 18, Mr Putin lashed out against a “fifth column” of “national traitors” enlisted by the west to subvert Russia. He vowed to respond forcefully. Read the rest of this entry »
Foreign Policy Rooted in Wishful Thinking
Posted: March 21, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Russia, War Room, White House | Tags: Crimea, KIEV, Mark Salter, RUSSIA, Russians, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Vladimir Putin 1 CommentAnother revealing article about the President of the United States of Fantasyland. How the U.S. and its allies can tolerate this for three more years remains a mystery…
Mark Salter writes: For the briefest of moments Thursday, a certain cable news network stopped breathlessly reporting on the missing Malaysian airliner as if its disappearance is a harbinger of the end times, and turned to another news story of more lasting importance, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“…five-plus years of a mostly rhetorical foreign policy, where the president seeks to woo the world with words, but where deeds rarely follow and wishful thinking passes for strategy.”
A brief summary of the dreary news of the day from that embattled nation ended with a mention of some thuggish behavior by extremists who represent a small faction of Ukrainian nationalists. The incident provoked a comment from the show’s host. I can’t find a transcript of the remarks, but as best I remember it went something like this: We’ve been told the Russians are the bad guys and the Ukrainians are the good guys but things are never as simple as we’re told. Sometimes America supports some pretty bad people.
Well, one thing is certain. Things are never as simple as many cable news hosts try to make them out to be. But in this instance, contrary to the opinion stated above, the conflict essentially is a contest between good and bad.
[VIDEO] More Sunday Talk Show Fun: Darth Vader Emerges, Says ‘No Question Putin Thinks Obama Is Weak’
Posted: March 9, 2014 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Crimea, Face the Nation, John Kerry, Putin, RUSSIA, Russians, United States, Vladimir Putin 1 Comment“I think there’s no question [Putin] believes he is weak . . . ,” the former vice president told Face the Nation. “We have created an image around the world, not just to the Russians, of weakness and indecisiveness.”

US Official: Russia in Control of Ukraines Crimea Province
Posted: March 3, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room, White House | Tags: Crimea, Kharkiv, KIEV, Obama administration, RUSSIA, Russian Armed Forces, Russians, Simferopol, The Guardian, Ukraine 1 CommentMary Chastain reports: A senior Obama administration official said Russia has complete control of Crimea and that there are more than 6,000 airborne and naval forces in the peninsula.
UPDATE: and from London, 12.13am GMT:
The BBC’s indomitable Nick Sutton, nightly tweeter of tomorrow’s Fleet Street front pages, notes that Ukraine leads on most.
Among them, The Sun has its own characteristic take on the crisis.
Almost all Monday’s front pages lead on #Ukraine – all here: http://t.co/kOyRMrqwNR #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/jveDmeEhao
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) March 2, 2014
“Russian forces now have complete operational control of the Crimean peninsula, some 6,000-plus airborne and naval forces, with considerable materiel,” the official said in a briefing for reporters. “There is no question that they are in an occupation position in Crimea…”

Pro-Russian militants near a local government building in Simferopol, Ukraine. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Team USA Men’s Hockey Champions Doing Donuts in Putin’s Front Yard
Posted: February 15, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Diplomacy, Entertainment, Global | Tags: Jonathan Quick, Miracle on Ice, Russians, Sochi, St. Louis, T. J. Oshie, United States, Vladimir Putin 1 CommentBreitbart Sports reports: The United States men’s hockey team beat the Russians in a thrilling, riveting, and classic contest in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Sochi Games 34 years after the US’s “Miracle on Ice” win at Lake Placcid.
The Americans won 3-2 on Saturday after the eighth round of the overtime shootout that saw Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick stonewall the Russians while St. Louis’s T.J. Oshie, selected in part because of his skills in the shootout, took six of the eight shootout attempts in overtime, converting on four, including the game winner. Oshe took all five shots for the U.S. when the shootout when into extra rounds.
Whitewashing Communism
Posted: February 13, 2014 Filed under: History, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: John Fund, NBC, Putin, Ronald Reagan, RUSSIA, Russians, Soviet Union, Vladimir Putin 2 Comments
Sochi coverage sugar-coats a murderous regime.
John Fund writes: We didn’t need the Olympics to be reminded that Vladimir Putin still has a soft spot for his nation’s defunct Communist system. In 2009, Russian state television aired a documentary called “The Wall.” It detailed how, as a KGB major in Dresden in 1989, he faced down a crowd of East German dissidents who tried to storm the local KGB office and steal its files.
“Putin succeeded in persuading the crowd to fall back,” the documentary’s maker gushed.
Russian state television had aired another program claiming that Putin brandished a pistol and told the crowd: “This is Soviet territory and you’re standing on our border. I’m serious when I say that I will shoot trespassers.”
Putin has never lost his Commie-stalgia. In 2005, he used his “state of the nation” address to tell Russians that “the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. . . . As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy.”
If that weren’t enough proof, the Sochi Olympic Games opened last Friday with a lavish choreographed tour of Russian history. The 20th century was depicted as a time of rapid industrialization, symbolized by a hammer and a sickle floating above the performers. There wasn’t even a hint of the horrors of Stalinism or the deaths it caused.
Russia Islamicized: The rise of a restive Muslim minority
Posted: October 22, 2013 Filed under: Global, History, Think Tank | Tags: Azerbaijan, Daniel Pipes, Moscow, Population Research Institute, RUSSIA, Russian diaspora, Russians, Soviet Union 1 Comment
Eid al-Atha prayers in Moscow, October 15, 2013.
Daniel Pipes writes: The stabbing murder on October 10 of an ethnic Russian, Yegor Shcherbakov, 25, apparently by a Muslim from Azerbaijan, led to antimigrant disturbances in Moscow, vandalism and assaults, and the arrest of 1,200. It brought a major tension in Russian life to the fore.
Not only do ethnic Muslims account for 21–23 million of Russia’s total population of 144 million, or 15 percent, but their proportion is fast growing. Alcoholism-plagued ethnic Russians are said to have European birth rates and African life-expectancy, with the former just 1.4 per woman and the latter 60 years for men. In Moscow, ethnic Christian women have 1.1 children.
In contrast, Muslim women bear 2.3 children on average and have fewer abortions than their Russian counterparts. In Moscow, Tatar women have six children and Chechen and Ingush women have ten on average. In addition, some 3 to 4 million Muslims have moved to Russia from ex-republics of the USSR, mainly Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan; and some ethnic Russians are converting to Islam.