Fun and games in Mother Russia
[politics filter]
OK, time for some general ruminations on the state of affairs w.r.t. Russia...
( Long notes on oil and intelligenceCollapse )Conclusions: It looks like Putin has decided to play Russia's oil resources into a powerful and semi-secretive relationship with America, and possibly even Israel, that could restore a good deal of its geopolitical clout in the form a "special relationship" that gives them more or less unlimited freedom to act in their geographic sphere, now as close allies of the US. The things to watch in this regard are (a) new oil pipelines from the Caspian to Turkey and from Siberia to Murmansk, and (b) increased US-Russian intel and military cooperation. Potentially a rather handy win for all sides.
But: How much do y'all want to bet that the profits from all of this on the American side will be going disproportionately into a couple of, shall we say, well-connected companies? Sheesh.
