PRO-COMMUNIST CONSERVATIVES?

This Tuesday, November 27, a weird full-page ad appeared in The Washington Times directly targeting conservatives.  Its headline in big bold print:  U.S.-Russia:  Toward a political, economic and military alliance.

It was paid for by an outfit called america-russia.net.  It's not clear if these folks are on the KGB payroll, but they might as well be. 

They seem to be the same group of Blame America First Conservatives I wrote about back in July of '05:  the folks at American Conservative and antiwar.com infected with the disease of Anti-Semitism, who hate Israel more than they love America, who root for America's defeat in Iraq.

Now they're rooting for the KGB Mafia that runs Russia.

All the growing fascism, the obliteration of democracy, the beating up of any opponents, Russia becoming a thugocracy, a mafiacracy run by a KGB clique of oil billionaires who hate us for winning the Cold War – it's all our fault.  "We blew it," the full page ad quotes Pat Buchanan, founder of American Conservative magazine.

Anyone with a picogram of understanding of what's going on in the Kremlin these days knows there is not the slightest chance of a "political, economic, and military alliance" between America and Russia. 

There might have been in the Yeltsin days of the early 90s, when young anti-Communist Russians were players in the Kremlin.  But the whole place is run by Putin's Leningrad KGB buddies now.  These guys hate our guts.  Their hatred for us is marrow-deep.  And they are billionaires.

Last February, you learned that Putin is The World's Richest and Most Dangerous Gangster, the most corrupt ruler in world history, having accumulated a personal fortune of over 20 billion dollars – and control over thousands of nukes.

You also learned that Bush and Cheney were contemplating exposing Putin's billionaire corruption.  There's been a lot of debate in the White House about this, but it looks like the first salvo has finally been fired.

On November 12, one of Germany's major international publications, Die Welt, disclosed Putin's personal holdings in some of Russia's largest companies.  (It's clever to start the exposure in Europe, in a non-English outlet.)

He owns 4.5% of Gazprom, Russia's natural gas monopoly with a market cap in excess of $300, valued at $13 billion.  He owns 37% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz, Russia's fourth largest oil producer, valued at $18 billion.  He owns 50% of Gunvor, Russia's largest oil-trading company, valued at least $10 billion.  (Gunvor's profits in 2006 were $8 billion and will of course be far larger this year).

These holding alone amount to $41 billion.  He has doubled his worth since February.  Many of his KGB cronies, like Gennady Timchenko, his partner in Gunvor, and Leonid Reiman, Russia's Telecommunications Minister, are multi-billionaires as well.

In the meantime, Russia is running out of food once again.  The cost of food imports are expected to increase food prices by 50-70% by spring.  The military continues to deteriorate.  Russian men die younger every year, with the average male life expectancy at 58 years, lower than Bangladesh.

Yet Putin is wildly popular among the majority of Russians, whose United Russia party will sweep parliamentary elections this Sunday (12/2).  Some cultures just seem to prefer corruption and oppression to freedom and rule-of-law democracy.  Russians have no one to blame but themselves.

Yet Pro-Communist, Anti-American Conservatives blame us, blame America, say its our fault.

Next year, the price of oil is going to collapse.  The smartest guys I know in the "ol bidniss" are convinced that it will be $40 by next June.  Given this, Russia's economy will collapse like a house of cards.  Maybe Putin and his KGB buds will take their loot and get out of dodge. 

Maybe then, just a wee bit maybe, some decent folks like Gary Kasparov and Boris Nemstov could run the Kremlin and there really would be a chance for a real Russia-America Alliance.

But don't expect to see any ads from the Buchanan crowd supporting it.  Kasparov, the world's former chess champion, is, you see, pro-American and pro-Israel.