Life in OUR America, Volume 2, The Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

When I was a kid, my mom told me that if I stuck my face where it didn't belong, there would be hell to pay.

So, you might say Calipari stuck his temple where it didn't belong.

In the cross-hairs.

Well, I'm with you, jeffmoskin, on not getting my head in the wrong place, like a "line of fire", especially these days, when the finger on the trigger is as unrestrained as it is these days!

SO?

What's Berlusconi going to do, then?

Revoke our national license to make pizzas?

Or will it be the silk suits?

[Livyjr]

And since we are flying all around the world in here this morning, well, why not check in on what's going on over there in "PUTIN LAND", as the former "EVIL EMPIRE" of Ronald Raygun days is now known as, and from here, it looks like SCANDAL!

Oh, no!

Somebody, call in the SECRET POLICE, quickly!

Russian national honor is at stake here, and seriously so, from what I can see of this developing "MESS" over there!

Which raises the question of whether Connie "CON JOB" Rice should now make an appearance over there, or maybe Helsinki, or some neutral ground such as that, to DEMAND a full accounting as to exactly WHAT is really going on over there in Bush Co. buddy Putin's "Land of the less-than-free", with this MORAL CRISIS which will surely have to be a threat to OUR own national security over here through the feared DOMINO EFFECT if it is not put down, and put down hard at that, preferably by a massive dose of Bush Co. SHOCK AND AWE, immediately, if not sooner!

Entertainment - Reuters

"Scandal Rocks Bolshoi's First New Opera in 30 Years"

Wed Mar 23,11:28 AM ET 

By Olga Petrova and Sonia Oxley

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The stage is set for the opening of the Bolshoi theater's first new opera for 30 years on Wednesday, but Russian critics are branding it pornographic and conservatives want it banned before the curtain even goes up.

The scandal over "Rosenthal's Children" has nothing to do with its content since critics had not even read the text before they condemned it, but everything to do with the libretto's author Vladimir Sorokin and his past.

Sorokin provoked outrage with his 1999 novel "Blue Lard" because of a sex scene involving clones of Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Josef Stalin.

Neverov has urged Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to ban the opera, drawing wrath from the theater's management, who compared his appeal to Soviet-era cultural suppression.

"This is called censorship and, by law, censorship has been abolished," said Anatoly Iksanov, head of the Bolshoi.

Sorokin said the work had come under fire because of his past, including a failed attempt to sue him on pornography charges over "Blue Lard."

"In Russia there are forces that want to return to the past ... where culture was like a castrated cat," he said.

Russia is already under scrutiny for what Western critics describe as President Vladimir Putin's increasingly autocratic rule, including concerns over media censorship.

end quotes

"What could they do?"

"Send in troops, send in the police?"

"It is ... not possible?"

I'm not so sure of that, myself, that it is "not possible"!

Never underestimate what George W. Bush might do if his sensibilities are irritated is my advice to you, Mr. Sorokin!

"Kremlin denies Soviet 'occupation' of Baltics"

Thu May 5, 7:08 AM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) - The Soviet Union never occupied the Baltic republics at the end of World War II, but took over in a mutual agreement, the Kremlin said in an angry response to EU demands for a historical apology.

"There was no occupation."

"There were agreements at the time with the legitimately elected authorities in the Baltic countries," the Kremlin's European affairs chief Sergei Yastrzhembsky told reporters.

Yastrzhembsky denounced European Commission vice president Guenter Verheugen for saying earlier this week that Moscow's relations with Brussels would depend on Russia admitting the illegality of Soviet rule in the three tiny Baltic republics -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"I advise those who want to develop constructive relations with Russia to leave the analysis to historians and to experts, and not to bring too many phobias and historical prejudice into current relations between Russia and the European Union," Yastrzhembsky said Thursday.

Verheugen "does not properly rememember the historical situation on which he is commenting."

Soviet authority was first established in the Baltics in 1940, following a secret pact between Stalin and Nazi Germany.

The three republics were then held by German forces between June 1941 and 1945, when the victorious Red Army returned, placing the region under Moscow's control until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

All three republics entered the European Union last year and are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Demands by the Baltics that Moscow recognise their annexation as illegal have sparked a major diplomatic row as Russia prepares to host world leaders next Monday for the May 9 commemorations of the end to World War II.

The presidents of Lithuania and Estonia, Valdas Adamkus and Arnold Ruutel, turned down an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend.

Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also turned up the heat earlier this week by calling on Russia to apologise for the Soviet Union's actions in the Baltics.

US President George W. Bush will enter the fray on Saturday when he meets all three Baltic leaders in the Latvian capital Riga, before flying on to Moscow.

[Livyjr]

"Kremlin denies Soviet 'occupation' of Baltics"

Thu May 5, 7:08 AM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) - The Soviet Union never occupied the Baltic republics at the end of World War II, but took over in a mutual agreement, the Kremlin said in an angry response to EU demands for a historical apology.

"There was no occupation."

"There were agreements at the time with the legitimately elected authorities in the Baltic countries," the Kremlin's European affairs chief Sergei Yastrzhembsky told reporters.

Yastrzhembsky denounced European Commission vice president Guenter Verheugen for saying earlier this week that Moscow's relations with Brussels would depend on Russia admitting the illegality of Soviet rule in the three tiny Baltic republics -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"I advise those who want to develop constructive relations with Russia to leave the analysis to historians and to experts, and not to bring too many phobias and historical prejudice into current relations between Russia and the European Union," Yastrzhembsky said Thursday.

Verheugen "does not properly rememember the historical situation on which he is commenting."

US President George W. Bush will enter the fray on Saturday when he meets all three Baltic leaders in the Latvian capital Riga, before flying on to Moscow.

"White House Tries to Allay Russian Anger"

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 52 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday sought to calm Russian anger over the U.S. call for Moscow to renounce the Soviet Union's 1940 annexation of Baltic states, even as President Bush promised to raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Soviet occupation of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia beginning during World War II has come to the fore ahead of Bush's trip to Moscow for ceremonies celebrating the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe.

But for many in Central and Eastern Europe, the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 was not entirely a cause for celebration.

So Bush is offering a public show of sympathy for the "very difficult period" the ceremonies recall.

The president is making the spread of democracy the theme of a four-nation European trip that includes meetings with the leaders of the three Baltic states.

Bush, in an interview with foreign media before the trip, said that instead of bringing freedom, the war's end meant their countries were "taken over by a repressive, communist regime."

"There is great angst, and people don't view this is a liberating moment," Bush said.

"Of course I'll remind (Putin) of that."

Bush has sent a letter to Latvia's president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, that does not blame Russia, but acknowledges that Europe's liberation marked the decades-long Soviet occupation of the Baltics.

Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said this week that it "would be an appropriate thing" for Russia to renounce the annexation.

But the president and White House aides were vague on whether Bush would specifically ask Putin to do so.

The two are meeting at Putin's dacha on Sunday, the night before a Red Square military parade.

Russian officials have rejected any suggestion that they renounce the Baltic occupation.

They said it would be an insult to the 27 million Soviets who died during the war and argued that the countries willingly joined the U.S.S.R.

"One cannot use the term `occupation' to describe those historical events," Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Putin's special representative for ties with the European Union, said Thursday.

Also Thursday, the Russian foreign ministry said it was "patently counterproductive to put on the agenda of modern international relations an assessment of events that, though tragic, belong to the past."

Russia's refusal has led the presidents of Lithuania and Estonia to boycott the Moscow events.

Bush said he would tell Putin he should "work with the Baltics in a cooperative way."

"It really is in Russia's interests to have free countries and democracies on her border," he said.

"The more democracies on the border of a country, the more peaceful a country will be."

The White House, seeking to emphasize points of cooperation over differences, said the matter will not spoil Bush and Putin's meeting.

"We have a good strategic relationship with Russia," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

"We work very closely with Russia in a number of areas, whether it's trade, economic issues or our cooperation in the global war on terrorism and our cooperation on stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction."

But, he added:

"We must remember the past as we move forward to advance freedom and democracy and tolerance and prosperity."

There are other sensitive matters on the agenda between Bush and Putin — a centralization of power in the Kremlin that has raised fears about democratic backsliding, Moscow's arms sales to Syria and Venezuela, the seizure of oil conglomerate Yukos and intellectual property rights disputes among them.

"I believe Russia's interests lie to her west," Bush said.

"I believe that Russia, by embracing the values that we share, will be able to deal with the many problems that she has."

Bush was leaving Friday for Riga, Latvia, where he will meet with the leaders of the three Baltic states.

On Sunday, he speaks at an American cemetery in the Netherlands where the remains of more than 8,000 U.S. soldiers who died in WWII are buried.

The Putin meeting is that evening, followed the next day by the WWII ceremonies with dozens of other world leaders.

He completes his trip with a stop in Tbilisi, Georgia, another ex-Soviet republic that Bush will hail as one of the world's inspiring young democracies.
___

On the Net:

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov

[Livyjr]

"Britons Vote With War in Iraq on Minds"

By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - Voters cast ballots in village halls, schools and even pubs across Britain Thursday in a national election that is expected to give Prime Minister Tony Blair a third term in office despite widespread anger over the Iraq war.

Although most observers believed Blair's Labour Party would win the election thanks to the strength of the economy, anti-war sentiment and doubts about Blair's trustworthiness could deny him the landslide victories he won in 1997 and 2001.

If Labour's majority shrinks significantly, it could badly damage Blair, who would wield less power than in his first two terms and lose standing within his party.

"As far as the economy is concerned, we're doing fine."

"It's just the one big issue (the war)."

"I find it appalling that thousands of people are lying out there dead, it just sickens me," said Gary Davis, a taxi driver who voted Conservative in north London.

This year's brief but hard-hitting campaign exposed the depth of Britons' anger at the prime minister, whose formidable political skills once charmed voters who saw him as a fresh face of change after 18 years of Tory government in the 1980s and '90s.

Blair's decision to commit the country to war in Iraq and his centrist stance on domestic issues — including plans to partly privatize some public services — have infuriated many within his own party.

But he has benefited from the Conservatives' even greater unpopularity and a perception that the opposition is less capable of handling the economy.

Well, how about that, will you?

What is saving "TWO-GUN TEXAS TONY" Blair, the Savile Row "cowboy" of London, England, who is the GREAT APPEASOR to TEXAN George W. Bush, is the fact that his opposition is even worse than he is, which is how politics seems to go, these days, and probably all days if truth be told - "I'm voting for this one, because he's not as corrupt and stupid as that other one, and that is all there is to choose from!"

Sound familiar?

"Blair makes history, but loses aura of invincibility"

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair looked to have made history by becoming the first Labour Party leader to win three straight terms in office.

Yet this latest victory could herald his imminent exit.

Despite entering the pantheon of British political giants with a predicted third term, estimates in an exit poll that the Labour majority in parliament has been sharply reduced could spell trouble for a premier already badly hit by the Iraq war.

Blair, who turns 52 on Friday, has led Labour to a majority of 66, down from the 167 seen in the last general election in 2001, the BBC exit poll said.

Pundits have predicted that Blair, who has already pledged to step down at the end of a third term in office, could hand over power much sooner to his ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, if the fallout over Iraq looks to have fatally undermined his popularity.

The man once known as "Teflon Tony" because criticism rarely stuck to him endured a torrid election campaign over allegations he misled the country about his reasons for joining the US-led war in Iraq in March 2003.

Repeated opinion polls during the campaign showed considerable hostility towards Blair, even among professed Labour supporters, largely due to the Iraq war, which millions of Britons opposed.

Brown has never made a secret of his desire to take the top job, and if the premier begins to resemble a lame duck incumbent, Brown's supporters in the Labour Party could act to remove Blair.

Whatever happens, Labour's fortunes in recent years owe massive amounts to Blair.

It was his political master stroke that rescued the party from oblivion a decade ago, and put the formerly all-powerful Conservatives on the ropes.

The key was reforming the ideologically leftist Labour Party with a fresh pragmatic brand of centrist economic and social policies that captured the ground from the Conservatives.

Since the party's first landslide victory in 1997, followed by another in 2001, the Blair government has set about changing the political landscape of Britain.

Under constitutional reforms, Scotland and Wales have voted for devolution and set up their own political bodies.

London now directly elects its mayor, and all but 92 hereditary peers have been removed from the House of Lords in the first stage of its reform, while the Bank of England has the power to set interest rates on its own.

In foreign policy, Blair has engaged Britain's military forces in five conflicts, including Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as brokered a peace agreement in Northern Ireland and launched a major development plan for Africa.

Though part of Britain's educated elite, following private school with a law degree at Oxford University, Blair is a different breed of politician.

Blair, who at the age of 30 won the seat of Sedgefield, northeast England, in the 1983 election, rose quickly through the ranks to become party leader in 1994, with his party still in opposition.

So, in 1997 when he was only 43, Blair became not only the youngest prime minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812, but also set himself apart by never having served as a cabinet minister, or even as a junior minister.

Nor has he always been beholden to cabinet members.

Much like a US president, Blair is known to prefer working with his advisors -- he has a record 20 of them -- to formulate policies while reaching out to voters directly with his great powers of persuasion.

end quotes

1812?

Hhhhmmm!

I remember 1812 from OUR American history, myself!

That's the year a bunch of thuggish English TAY-RISTS came over here onto OUR American soil and burned down OUR White House!

Hhhhmmm!

How about that, will you?

[jeffmoskin]

Pundits have predicted that Blair, who has already pledged to step down at the end of a third term in office, could hand over power much sooner to his ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, if the fallout over Iraq looks to have fatally undermined his popularity.

Well, if he had done that BEFORE the election, his party would have kept its 160 seat margin.

Ah, the price of ego.

[Livyjr]

Well, if he had done that BEFORE the election, his party would have kept its 160 seat margin.

Ah, the price of ego.

Politics!

The world's longest running "PASSION PLAY" and Greek tragedy all rolled up in one, and just think, jeffmoskin, we have a front row seat as it is happening!

Now, when you were young, in your wildest dreams, did you ever imagine?

And did you read "Buck Rogers"?

[Livyjr]

"How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler Rise to Power"

by BEN ARIS & DUNCAN CAMPBELL (THE GUARDIAN - U.K.)

George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.

The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

The debate over Prescott Bush's behaviour has been bubbling under the surface for some time.

More than 60 years after Prescott Bush came briefly under scrutiny at the time of a faraway war, his grandson is facing a different kind of scrutiny but one underpinned by the same perception that, for some people, war can be a profitable business.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

http://WWW.GUARDIAN.CO.UK/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html

"Bush Opens European Trip Amid Tensions"

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

1 hour, 4 minutes ago

RIGA, Latvia - President Bush, ignoring Moscow's objections about his trip to former Soviet republics, said Friday that Russia should treat its neighbors with respect and not fear the rise of new democracies along its borders.

Bush opened a fast-paced, four-country journey to mark the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

He will meet on Saturday with the leaders of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

For these Baltic countries, the end of World War II did not bring liberation.

Instead, they traded Nazi oppression for nearly five decades of Soviet occupation.

Bush said he has reminded Russian President Vladimir Putin about that history, ahead of the victory celebrations.

"Frankly, it's the beginning of a difficult period, and I can understand why some leaders of countries aren't going and some others are," the president said of the anniversary events.

He spoke in a series of pre-trip interviews with television outlets in countries he will visit.

Lithuania's President Valdas Adamkus and Estonia's President Arnold Ruutel say they will stay home when dozens of world leaders — Bush included — go to Moscow for a parade Monday in Red Square honoring Russia's enormous sacrifices to defeat the Nazis.

Bush's trip has been clouded by Moscow's unhappiness about his stops in two former Soviet republics — Latvia and Georgia, a move seen by Russia as interference in its neighborhood.

The president also will visit the Netherlands.

Bush said he would tell Putin he should welcome peaceful democracies on Russia's borders.

"And so I will remind him that this is not a plot by anybody or any nation," Bush said.

"This is just the inevitable course of humankind because all humans want to be free."

Bush said the three Baltic countries, as new members of NATO, have a security guarantee from the United States and its allies.

Bush said he speaks with Putin frequently about the Baltics.

"And my job at times is to send a message that says, look, treat your neighbors with respect," Bush said.

"Free nations, democracies on your border are good for you — whether that be, by the way, in the Baltics or in Ukraine, I've sent that same message — or Georgia."

"In other words, countries that are free countries are countries that will be good neighbors."

At the same time, Bush said he would tell Baltic leaders that democracy must include respect for minority rights, a nod to Moscow's concerns about the treatment of Russian-speakers in the ex-Soviet republics.

Bush, in an interview on Russian television, acknowledged that the United States and Britain played a major role in reshaping Europe at the 1943 Yalta conference of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin.

"I think that the main complaint would be that the form of government that the Baltics had to live under was not of their choosing," Bush said.

"But, no, there's no question three leaders made the decision."

Dan Fried, assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said on Air Force One that there are competing narratives about how World War II was won and the aftermath.

"We have our dark spots too, just like the Russians, but we admit it," Fried said.

He said the Russians do not.

Russia refuses to apologize for occupying the Baltics, insisting that the Baltic governments of the time had willingly invited Soviet troops into their countries and agreed to join the Soviet Union.

Baltic leaders says that if Russia wants glory for defeating the Nazis, it also should take responsibility for the occupation.

Putin said Moscow already has condemned the secret Soviet-Nazi pact that led to the occupation.

In an interview published Friday, he said the Soviet-era legislature, the Supreme Soviet, had issued a resolution in 1989 that criticized the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as "a personal decision by Stalin that contradicted the interests of the Soviet people."

"I want to repeat: We already did it," Putin said.

"What, we have to do this every day, every year?"

Bush will lay a wreath Saturday at Latvia's towering Freedom Monument, which served as a symbol of resistance in the difficult struggle for independence.

Bush's trip to Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia was designed to meet a variety of diplomatic needs.

[Abu Beacon]

"Kremlin denies Soviet 'occupation' of Baltics"

Thu May 5, 7:08 AM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) - The Soviet Union never occupied the Baltic republics at the end of World War II, but took over in a mutual agreement, the Kremlin said in an angry response to EU demands for a historical apology.

"There was no occupation."

Riga, before flying on to Moscow[/u].[/b][/color]

I don't believe I have ever heard, any of the big three, Bush - Cheney - Rumsfeld, ever use the word " occupation" in reference to our presence in Iraq.

A.B.

[jeffmoskin]

I don't believe I have ever heard, any of the big three, Bush - Cheney - Rumsfeld, ever use the word " occupation" in reference to our presence in Iraq.

A.B.

from m-w.com:


One entry found for occupation.
Main Entry: oc·cu·pa·tion
Pronunciation: "ä-ky&-'pA-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English occupacioun, from Middle French occupation, from Latin occupation-, occupatio, from occupare
1 a : an activity in which one engages <in the first three grades learning to read is perhaps the major occupation of the pupil -- J. B. Conant> b : the principal business of one's life : VOCATION
2 a : the possession, use, or settlement of land : OCCUPANCY b : the holding of an office or position
3 a : the act or process of taking possession of a place or area : SEIZURE b : the holding and control of an area by a foreign military force c : the military force occupying a country or the policies carried out by it

[Abu Beacon]

"Bush Opens European Trip Amid Tensions"

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

1 hour, 4 minutes ago

RIGA, Latvia - President Bush, ignoring Moscow's objections about his trip to former Soviet republics, said Friday that Russia should treat its neighbors with respect and not fear the rise of new democracies along its borders.

Bush said the three Baltic countries, as new members of NATO, have a security guarantee from the United States and its allies.

"Free nations, democracies on your border are good for you — whether that be, by the way, in the Baltics or in Ukraine, I've sent that same message — or Georgia."

"In other words, countries that are free countries are countries that will be good neighbors."

At the same time, Bush said he would tell Baltic leaders that democracy must include respect for minority rights, a nod to Moscow's concerns about the treatment of Russian-speakers in the ex-Soviet republics.

In October of 1962, President John F. Kennedy caused Russia to back down. They had been supplying Cuba with missiles. At that time, JFK let the Russians know in no certain terms that this was OUR hemisphere and they should STAY OUT.

On October 22, 1962, after reviewing newly acquired intelligence, President John F. Kennedy informed the world that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases in Cuba, a mere 90 miles off the shores of Florida. After weighing such options as an armed invasion of Cuba and air strikes against the missiles, Kennedy decided on a less dangerous response. In addition to demanding that Russian Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev remove all the missile bases and their deadly contents, Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine (blockade) of Cuba in order to prevent Russian ships from bringing additional missiles and construction materials to the island. In response to the American naval blockade, Premier Khrushchev authorized his Soviet field commanders in Cuba to launch their tactical nuclear weapons if invaded by U.S. forces. Deadlocked in this manner, the two leaders of the world's greatest nuclear superpowers stared each other down for seven days - until Khrushchev blinked. On October 28, thinking better of prolonging his challenge to the United States, the Russian Premier conceded to President Kennedy's demands by ordering all Soviet supply ships away from Cuban waters and agreeing to remove the missiles from Cuba's mainland. After several days of teetering on the brink of nuclear holocaust, the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps President Putin believes " what's good for the goose is good for the gander "

A.B.

[jeffmoskin]

In October of 1962, President John F. Kennedy caused Russia to back down. They had been supplying Cuba with missiles. At that time, JFK let the Russians know in no certain terms that this  was OUR hemisphere and they should STAY OUT.

On October 22, 1962, after reviewing newly acquired intelligence, President John F. Kennedy informed the world that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases in Cuba, a mere 90 miles off the shores of Florida. After weighing such options as an armed invasion of Cuba and air strikes against the missiles, Kennedy decided on a less dangerous response. In addition to demanding that Russian Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev remove all the missile bases and their deadly contents, Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine (blockade) of Cuba in order to prevent Russian ships from bringing additional missiles and construction materials to the island. In response to the American naval blockade, Premier Khrushchev authorized his Soviet field commanders in Cuba to launch their tactical nuclear weapons if invaded by U.S. forces. Deadlocked in this manner, the two leaders of the world's greatest nuclear superpowers stared each other down for seven days - until Khrushchev blinked. On October 28, thinking better of prolonging his challenge to the United States, the Russian Premier conceded to President Kennedy's demands by ordering all Soviet supply ships away from Cuban waters and agreeing to remove the missiles from Cuba's mainland. After several days of teetering on the brink of nuclear holocaust, the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps President Putin believes " what's good for the goose is good for the gander "

A.B.

It was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. I thank God that Khrushchev blinked. I don't think Kennedy would have backed down - not after the Bay of Pigs fiasco (GHW Bush was involved in the CIA end of it).

Khrushchev was rewarded with "early retirement." His granddaughter, Nina Khrushcheva, lives here and teaches at Princeton.

[Livyjr]

Well done, Mr. A.B., and jeffmoskin, both!

That was quite an exchange between you on what was certainly an interesting time in our collective lives!

I certainly recall that confrontation as one of the more memorable events in my life - was that the day we were going to get fried because of a pack of fools with grossly over-sized egos?

I myself always hold fond memories of Kennedy in that crisis, of what I thought then and now, was his utter calm:

"WE WILL PREVAIL, DO NOT FLINCH IN THE FACE OF DANGER!"

And so, we did!

And without a mess like we have today!

And thank God for that!

[Livyjr]

Perhaps President Putin believes "what's good for the goose is good for the gander!"

A.B.

And so do I, Mr. A.B., so do I!

I wonder how George W. Bush would react if Putin reminded him of the fact that there would not have been any Nazis at all for anyone to have to fight in the first place if it had not been for American financiers named George Herbert Walker and Prescott "Cottie" Bush to allegedly bankroll their rise to power in Europe in the days before WWII?

[Livyjr]

Middle East - AP

"Four Dead After U.S. Convoy Attacked"

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents attacked a U.S. convoy and a government building near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, leaving at least four people dead, hospital workers said.

Two Iraqi National Guard troops were also killed while trying to defuse a roadside bomb.

Insurgents fired on the convoy in Al-Qahira district, just north of Mosul, sparking a battle that left at least four people dead and two wounded, doctors at the Al-Jumhuri Teaching Hospital said.

Insurgents also fired a rocket at the governor's building in Mosul, killing one woman and one man, as well as injuring four others, officials at the hospital said.

Two Iraqi National Guard troops were killed on Mosul's airport road while trying to diffuse a roadside bomb, police said.

U.S. and insurgent forces have fought fierce battles in recent days in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Fierce clashes broke out Saturday after American troops, responding to a mortar attack on one of their bases, were attacked with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades by insurgents inside a mosque, U.S. officials said.

The insurgents disabled a U.S. Army tank and a Stryker armored vehicle during the battle, which raged for hours around the mosque, Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla said.

U.S. troops killed nine insurgents but suffered no fatalities, Kurilla said.

end quotes

And so, here we are over in "Life in OUR America", Vol. II, and we still have as one of our background "issues" in here, the George W. Bush Holy War.

I wonder for how many more volumes that will continue to be the case?

"U.S. leans more on Iraq troops to fight insurgents"

By Ian Simpson

Sat May 7, 8:32 AM ET

MUQDADIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - When Major Mark Borowski plunged with Iraqi troops into a date palm grove notorious as an insurgent hideout, he did something a U.S. officer would not have done a year ago -- almost nothing.

Borowski's hands-off approach during the dawn sweep by hundreds of Iraqi soldiers marked the changing role of U.S. troops as they shift the burden of fighting insurgents onto under-equipped, barely trained Iraqi troops and police.

The brigade-size raid through dusty streets and a maze of towering palm trees, irrigation ditches and thickets at Buhriz, a town about 50 km (35 miles) north of Baghdad, was judged by U.S. officers to have been a success.

"I was pretty happy, this is a complex mission," Borowski, a battalion operations officer in the 3rd Infantry Division, told Reuters.

"You saw the terrain."

"It was like the land that time forgot back there."

U.S. aircraft and artillery were available for support.

But most of the few U.S. troops on the ground stayed close to their Humvees as Iraqi soldiers kicked down gates, searched through brush and bashed open the doors of uninhabited huts.

Buhriz is one of the stubborn insurgent redoubts in Diyala, a mixed Shi'ite and Sunni province of 1.8 million people north of Baghdad.

U.S. forces in the province, like elsewhere in Iraq, are trying to steadily shift more of the burden of fighting insurgents to Iraqi forces.

U.S. and Iraqi troops said challenges included having to pull soldiers out of action for even a few weeks of training, a shortage of Iraqi non-commissioned officers, fostering initiative and equipping soldiers who often lack even boots.

"Our mantra has got to be transition," said Colonel Steven Salazar, head of the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade, which oversees the western part of Diyala province.

SWEATING OUT TRAINING

During a later training session at the vast U.S. base at Muqdadiya, Iraqi soldiers on a two-week course sweated under the midday sun as instructors drilled half a dozen units on putting up a quick road checkpoint.

Squad after squad jumped off a truck, uncoiled barbed wire, put up signs and posted guards, AK-47 rifles at the ready.

"This is all new for us."

"We can't get it all in 14 days," Captain Raeth Katfan, an officer with Iraq's 204th Battalion, said of the course.

A former lieutenant in Saddam Hussein's army, dissolved after the U.S. invasion in 2003, Katfan said the Americans were emphasising respect for civilians and initiative by officers.

Sergeant Major Shakar Mahmood Hussein, a trainer, added:

"Before you needed an order to be able to do anything."

"Now, the leader feels like a leader."

Iraqi troops, many of them veterans left jobless when Saddam's regiments were dissolved but later rehired by the new army, badly lack equipment including ammunition, body armor, helmets, weapons, uniforms and radios, soldiers say.

Several of the troops in training wore tennis shoes.

None had helmets.

Few had the same uniforms and equipment.

U.S. and Iraqi officers said the shortage was due to the lack of supply from the Defense Ministry.

During the Buhriz raid, officers with the Iraqi 205th Brigade, whose performance has been praised by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, lacked GPS equipment and compasses and relied on hand-held radios.

Troops did not have bolt cutters or shovels and used discarded iron bars and rusty axes to smash open doors and gates.

Company commanders also balked at coordinating pickup of munition stashes, Borowski said.

But despite the difficulties, the raid netted a heap of munitions, including an anti-aircraft gun and an army motorcycle with sidecar that a U.S. soldier rode down Buhriz's main street.

Several suspects were detained.

Iraqi commander Brigadier General Haad Ibrahim al-Tamimi was pleased with the result.

"With the help of the U.S. and relying on our soldiers we have driven the criminals out of here," he said.

[Livyjr]

And so do I, Mr. A.B., so do I!

I wonder how George W. Bush would react if Putin reminded him of the fact that there would not have been any Nazis at all for anyone to have to fight in the first place if it had not been for American financiers named George Herbert Walker and Prescott "Cottie" Bush to allegedly bankroll their rise to power in Europe in the days before WWII?

"Bush: U.S. Had Hand in European Divisions"

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

1 hour, 3 minutes ago

RIGA, Latvia - Second-guessing Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Bush said Saturday the United States played a role in Europe's painful division after World War II — a decision that helped cause "one of the greatest wrongs of history" when the Soviet Union imposed its harsh rule across Central and Eastern Europe.

Bush said the lessons of the past will not be forgotten as the United States tries to spread freedom in the Middle East.

"We will not repeat the mistakes of other generations, appeasing or excusing tyranny, and sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability," the president said.

"We have learned our lesson; no one's liberty is expendable."

"In the long run, our security and true stability depend on the freedom of others."

Bush singled out the 1945 Yalta agreement signed by Roosevelt in a speech opening a four-day trip focused on Monday's celebration in Moscow of the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat.

In recent days Bush has urged Russia to own up to its wartime past.

It appeared he decided to do the same, himself, to set an example for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.

Bush also used his address to lecture Putin about his handling of the emergence of democratic countries on Russia's borders.

"No good purpose is served by stirring up fears and exploiting old rivalries in this region," Bush said.

"The interests of Russia and all nations are served by the growth of freedom that leads to prosperity and peace."

Bush spent the day with the leaders of three Baltic republics — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Many in the Baltic countries are still bitter about the Soviet annexation of their countries and the harsh occupation that followed the war for nearly 50 years.

Acknowledging that anger and frustration still linger, Bush said that "we have a great opportunity to move beyond the past."

His message here — and throughout his trip — is that the world is entering a new phase of freedom and all countries should get on board.

While history does not hide the U.S. role in Europe's division, American presidents have found little reason to discuss it before Bush's speech.

"Certainly it goes further than any president has gone," historian Alan Brinkley said from the U.S.

"This has been a very common view of the far right for many years — that Yalta was a betrayal of freedom, that Roosevelt betrayed the hopes of generations."

Bush said the Yalta agreement, also signed by Britain's Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, followed in the "unjust tradition" of other infamous war pacts that carved up the continent and left millions in oppression.

The Yalta accord gave Stalin control of the whole of Eastern Europe, leading to criticism that Roosevelt had delivered millions of people to communist domination.

"Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable," the president said.

"Yet this attempt to sacrifice freedom for the sake of stability left a continent divided and unstable."

Bush said the United States and its allies eventually recognized they could not be satisfied with the liberation of half of Europe and decided "we would not forget our friends behind an Iron Curtain."

The United States never forgot the Baltic peoples, Bush said, and flew the flags of free Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania over diplomatic missions in Washington.

"And when you joined hands in protest and the empire fell away," the president said, "the legacy of Yalta was finally buried, once and for all."

Putin, writing in a French newspaper Saturday, said the Soviet Union already made amends in 1989 and his country will not answer the demands of Baltic states for further repentance.

"Such pretensions are useless," Putin wrote in Le Figaro.

Bush reminded Baltic countries that democracy brings obligations along with elections and independence.

He said minority rights and equal justice must be protected, a nod to Moscow's concerns about the treatment of Russian-speakers in the three ex-Soviet republics.

Bush applauded the Baltics for supporting democracy in Ukraine and spoke approvingly of democracy progress in Georgia and Moldova.

At a news conference, Bush rejected the suggestion that Washington and Moscow work out a mutually agreeable way to bring democracy to Belarus — the former Soviet republic that Bush calls the "last remaining dictatorship in Europe."

"Secret deals to determine somebody else's fate — I think that's what we're lamenting here today, one of those secret deals among large powers that consigns people to a way of government," Bush said.

He called for "free and open and fair" elections set for next year in Belarus, now run by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Bush placed a wreath at the Latvian Freedom Monument, a towering obelisk symbolizing this small country's struggle for independence.

While he is unpopular across much of Europe because of the Iraq war, Bush got a warm welcome here.

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga presented Bush with the nation's top honor, the Three-Star Order, calling him a "signal fighter of freedom and democracy in the world."

Bush has irritated Russia by bracketing his visit to Moscow Sunday with stops in two former Soviet republics, Latvia and Georgia.

He arrived in the Netherlands on Saturday night, ahead of a speech Sunday at an American cemetery.

[Livyjr]

And while we are spending BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A MONTH on Bush Co.'s HOLY WAR, how are we really doing in the Bush Co.'s alleged "WAR on TAY-RAH"?

Or doesn't anyone in this Bush Co. regime really know?

White House - AP Cabinet & State

"Officials Warn of Future Terror Attacks"

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Speaking with one voice, President Bush's top intelligence and military officials said Wednesday that terrorists are regrouping for possible new strikes against the United States.

They said the best defense was for Congress to approve the president's military and anti-terror budget.

Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blamed Syria for having undermined stability in neighboring Lebanon.

"The Syrians (have) a special responsibility for the kind of destabilization that happened there, that this sort of thing could happen," said Rice, who also blamed Syria for contributing to the insurgency in Iraq and endangering U.S. forces.

Rice laid out a menu of spending initiatives, including $658 million for a new embassy compound in Baghdad, $1.2 billion for U.S. obligations to international organizations and $5.8 billion in assistance to U.S. partners in the war on terror.

Grim at times, the appraisals on threats to the United States indicated the second Bush term would remain fraught with warnings but often short on specifics shared with the public.

During the presidential campaign last year, the Bush-Cheney team often warned vaguely of terror threats.

"Syria says U.S. sanctions 'unfair and illogical'"

Sat May 7,12:45 PM ET

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria's finance minister expressed regret on Saturday that President Bush had decided to extend Washington's sanctions on Syria for another year, the official Syrian news agency reported.

Bush extended a ban on Thursday on certain U.S. imports to Syria and other sanctions imposed last May.

He said the Arab country was a threat to the United States.

Finance Minister Mohammad al-Hussein, who was speaking at a news conference to announce tax cuts, did not comment on the U.S. accusations but said Washington's sanctions were "unfair and illogical," the Syrian Arab News Agency said.

Hussein said his country would "continue to exert efforts for reform in the area of economy and other areas."

He announced a cut in taxes on car imports from 255 to 60 percent on vehicles with medium and large engines, a step that is expected to facilitate the signing of a long-planned aid and trade agreement with the European Union.

The U.S. sanctions severed banking relations with the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria and froze the assets of Syrians suspected of involvement in terrorism or WMD development.

Washington accuses the Arab state of supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and undermining efforts to stabilize Iraq.

Syria denies the charges.

Bush said on Thursday Syria's policies "continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.

Traditionally tense Syrian-U.S. ties are at their worst, mainly because of strong Syrian opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the Feb. 14 killing of a Lebanese former prime minister in Beirut, which many Lebanese blamed on Syria.

Bush recalled the U.S. ambassador to Damascus after the massive car bomb attack that killed Rafik al-Hariri, in which Syria says it had no role.

Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon last month, ending a 29-year military presence under pressure from the international community and anti-Syrian protests in its tiny neighbor.

[Livyjr]

Good morning, America, and to all of the MOTHERS out there especially, on this, your day, GOD SPEED you on your way, and protect you and yours throughout this day, and that wish is to ALL mothers, regardless of race, creed, or national origin, as befits a greeting coming to you from a citizen in a democratic REPUBLIC such as is OUR America!

MOTHERS are beyond national politics!

Pass it along!

Especially to http://www.whitehouse.gov

This post has been edited by Livyjr: May 8 2005, 07:00 AM

[Livyjr]

Personal power brings independence and freedom into the life of the individual, and it is continuously cultivated through attitude and projection!

What one believes, one becomes!

The more of a "mind" one has to believe with, the more profound the transformation.

Power over others, conversely, is an insidious form of enslavement!

- Commentaries on Tao Te Ching of Lao Tze, by R. L. Wing

[Livyjr]

"How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler Rise to Power"

by BEN ARIS & DUNCAN CAMPBELL (THE GUARDIAN - U.K.)

The author of the second book, to be published next year, John Loftus, is a former US attorney who prosecuted Nazi war criminals in the 70s.

Now living in St Petersburg, Florida and earning his living as a security commentator for Fox News and ABC radio, Loftus is working on a novel which uses some of the material he has uncovered on Bush.

Loftus stressed that what Prescott Bush was involved in was just what many other American and British businessmen were doing at the time.

"You can't blame Bush for what his grandfather did any more than you can blame Jack Kennedy for what his father did - bought Nazi stocks - but what is important is the cover-up, how it could have gone on so successfully for half a century, and does that have implications for us today?" he said.

"This was the mechanism by which Hitler was funded to come to power, this was the mechanism by which the Third Reich's defence industry was re-armed, this was the mechanism by which Nazi profits were repatriated back to the American owners, this was the mechanism by which investigations into the financial laundering of the Third Reich were blunted," said Loftus, who is vice-chairman of the Holocaust Museum in St Petersburg.

"The Union Banking Corporation was a holding company for the Nazis, for Fritz Thyssen," said Loftus.

"At various times, the Bush family has tried to spin it, saying they were owned by a Dutch bank and it wasn't until the Nazis took over Holland that they realised that now the Nazis controlled the apparent company and that is why the Bush supporters claim when the war was over they got their money back."

"Both the American treasury investigations and the intelligence investigations in Europe completely bely that, it's absolute horseshit."

"They always knew who the ultimate beneficiaries were."

"There is no one left alive who could be prosecuted but they did get away with it," said Loftus.

"As a former federal prosecutor, I would make a case for Prescott Bush, his father-in-law (George Walker) and Averill Harriman [to be prosecuted] for giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

"They remained on the boards of these companies knowing that they were of financial benefit to the nation of Germany."

Loftus said Prescott Bush must have been aware of what was happening in Germany at the time.

"My take on him was that he was a not terribly successful in-law who did what Herbert Walker told him to."

http://WWW.GUARDIAN.CO.UK/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html

Personal power brings independence and freedom into the life of the individual, and it is continuously cultivated through attitude and projection!

What one believes, one becomes!

The more of a "mind" one has to believe with, the more profound the transformation.

Power over others, conversely, is an insidious form of enslavement!

- Commentaries on Tao Te Ching of Lao Tze, by R. L. Wing

SO?

A question!

"Are we the only nation on the face of the earth that is plagued with a revival of these CONSERVATIVES?"

"German Far-Right Rally Protests 'Guilt'"

By DAVID McHUGH, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 15 minutes ago

BERLIN - About 3,000 supporters of an extreme-right party rallied Sunday to lament what they called Germany's "cult of guilt" about World War II, but they were kept from marching in downtown Berlin by thousands of counterdemonstrators.

National Democratic Party supporters were ringed by riot police on the Alexanderplatz square and after a several-hour rally agreed to scrap the march through Berlin, police spokesman Bodo Pfalzgraf said.

At least 5,000 opponents had headed toward them to block the planned route.

Hundreds of police, including reinforcements from across Germany, separated the two sides.

Police said there were no clashes.

Sunday was the anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945.

The far-right party, known in Germany as the NPD, dismissed organizers of official remembrances on its Web site as "occupation collaborators and a group of professional Jews."

It said the rally was to protest the "cult of guilt" it says was imposed on Germany after the Nazi defeat 60 years ago.

Many protesters wore all-black and sported shaven heads.

Some carried flags in red, white and black — the colors used by the Nazis and imperial Germany.

"This is a disgrace," said Interior Minister Otto Schily, who has accused the party of reviving Nazi ideology and symbols.

Police sealed off much of downtown Berlin to prevent clashes and protect the landmark Brandenburg Gate, where mainstream political leaders and about 10,000 spectators attended a "Day of Democracy" celebration with music and speeches.

Most Germans consider the Third Reich's surrender to have liberated them as well as the rest of Europe from the terrors of Nazism.

President Horst Koehler, marking the end of World War II in Europe, insisted that neo-Nazis "have no chance" today because the vast majority of Germans don't support them.

In a speech in parliament, he said Germans "look back with shame" on World War II and the Holocaust.

"We have the responsibility to keep alive the memory of all this suffering and of its causes, and we must ensure it never happens again."

"There can be no drawing the line."

"We mourn all of the victims, because we want to do justice to all peoples — including our own."

Koehler recalled the destruction of German cities by Allied bombing and the expulsion of Germans from eastern Europe at the end of the war, but he also thanked the Allies because they "gave the Germans a chance after the war."

"Today, we have good reason to be proud of our country," he said.

Originally, the NPD had wanted to march to the Brandenburg Gate and Germany's new Holocaust memorial.

Officials refused, citing a new law banning gatherings that insult the memory of Nazi victims, but approved a restricted route.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other top politicians on Sunday attended a wreath-laying at Berlin's monument to the victims of war and Nazism, which contains the remains of an unknown soldier and an unknown concentration camp victim.

[Livyjr]

I wonder how George W. Bush would react if Putin reminded him of the fact that there would not have been any Nazis at all for anyone to have to fight in the first place if it had not been for American financiers named George Herbert Walker and Prescott "Cottie" Bush to allegedly bankroll their rise to power in Europe in the days before WWII?

"Bush Thanks Putin for Help in Mideast"

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

36 minutes ago

MOSCOW - Despite contentions over Moscow's commitment to democracy, President Bush thanked Russia's Vladimir Putin on Sunday for help on Iran and the Middle East and said "there's a lot we can do together."

The two leaders put an upbeat cast on talks at Putin's dacha at a walled compound in a birch forest 25 miles west of Moscow.

The Russian leader even let Bush drive his white Volga sedan around a driveway before heading to dinner with their wives.

"I'm having so much fun."

"We're going for another lap," Bush said.

The two leaders ignored reporters' questions and kept their real discussions private, so there was no repeat of the contentious debate that flared publicly at a February news conference when they disagreed about Moscow's quashing of dissent and exertion of control in the country.

"Russia's a great nation and I'm looking forward to working together on big problems," Bush said.

"And I want to thank you for your help on Iran and the Middle East and there's a lot we can do together."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who briefed reporters on the talks, said Bush and Putin found wide agreement on the Middle East, support for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and a joint determination to fight terrorism.

"They talked about the need that one cannot flirt with terrorism or terrorists," Rice said.

"I think that was really the essential issue here because they're very concerned about the Palestinian situation."

She said the countries would consult on the training of Palestinian security forces.

Bush and Putin also discussed Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran, among other issues.

Russia is building a nuclear reactor in the Iranian city of Bushehr and the United States fears this could held Tehran develop nuclear weapons.

However, U.S. officials accept for now Russian assurances that no enrichment or reprocessing will take place, and that any spent fuel rods will be returned to Russia.

Rice said the two leaders also discussed a recent speech by Putin in which he talked about internal reforms in Russia and said the demise of the Soviet Union was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."

Rice said the candid talk between Bush and Putin underscored that theirs is a relationship "where they can talk about any subject."

"For the two presidents, there are no forbidden topics," added Lavrov.

Before his arrival in the Russian capital, Bush celebrated Nazi Germany's defeat and the end of World War II 60 years ago at an American cemetery in Margraten in the Netherlands, emphasizing the themes of democracy and freedom.

"The world's tyrants learned a lesson: There is no power like the power of freedom and no soldier as strong as a soldier who fights for that freedom," Bush told a crowd of thousands, including many white-haired war veterans who wore plastic rain ponchos on a raw spring morning.

"On this day we celebrate the victory they won," Bush said, "and we recommit ourselves to the great truth that they defended: that freedom is the birthright of all mankind."

Relations between Bush and Putin have soured of late amid U.S. unhappiness with Russian missile sales to Syria and crackdowns on business and Moscow's complaints of American meddling in its traditional sphere of influence.

Even before Bush's arrival, Putin appeared increasingly irritated at Bush's criticism of Russia's treatment of its former republics and his push for democracy along Russia's borders.

Bush said at an earlier stop in Latvia that Russia should acknowledge the Soviet Union's domination of Central and Eastern Europe and its harsh occupation of the Baltic country.

"This is not an issue of lecturing Russia," Rice told reporters as Air Force One was en route.

"It is that the United States and Russia have a deep and broad relationship."

"We'd like it to get deeper and broader."

"And the issue of common values and how Russia's democracy progresses is one of the issues on the agenda, an important issue on the agenda."

She took issue with Putin's assertion regarding the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"I'm not going to try to second guess President Putin on this," Rice said.

"I do know it was traumatic for many people to see the Soviet Union collapse."

"That's not surprising."

"Quite clearly the fall of the Soviet Union has led to some very good things including democracies throughout Eastern Europe and Central Europe and free Baltic states."

The United States has expressed repeated concern that Putin is quashing dissent and consolidating power.

Putin said in an American television interview that the United States should question its own democratic ways before looking for problems with Russia's.

Putin also told CBS' "60 Minutes" that the United States shouldn't try to export its democracy, as it is trying to do in Iraq."

The Russian leader pointed to what he believes are drawbacks to America's own brand of democracy, including the Electoral College system.

The Russian leader also has rebuffed calls from Bush and others for an apology for the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

In his remarks Saturday in Latvia, Bush said Putin should not fear the growth of democracy on Russia's borders and that "no good purpose is served by stirring up fears and exploiting old rivalries in this region."

Moscow has not disguised its unhappiness that Bush's four-nation trip was planned to bracket his stop in Russia with visits to two former Soviet republics, Latvia and Georgia.

Bush on Monday will join Putin and dozens of world leaders at a Red Square parade celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Bush has no scheduled public remarks during his 24-hour stay in Moscow.