Moscow rocked by a terrorist bombing……..

Demonstrating that terrorism knows no bounds……..Two female suicide bombers  set off bombs in Moscow today…….The expolsions took the lives of 37 people……..and reminded the world the even Russia has it problems with Islāmic terrorists…..

The first attack occurred as commuters were exiting a packed train at a station near the headquarters of the F.S.B., the successor to the Soviet-era K.G.B. Officials said they suspected that the attack there was intended as a message to the security services, which have helped lead the crackdown on Islamic extremism in Chechnya and other parts of the Caucasus region in southern Russia.

The two explosions spread panic throughout the capital as people searched for missing relatives and friends, and the authorities tried to determine whether more attacks were planned. The subway system is one of the world’s most extensive and well-managed, and it serves as a vital artery for Moscow’s commuters, carrying as many as 10 million people a day.

“The terrorist acts were carried out by two female terrorist bombers,” said Moscow’s mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov. “They happened at a time when there would be the maximum number of victims.”

Mr. Luzhkov said 23 people were killed in the first explosion, at the Lubyanka station, and 12 people were killed 40 minutes later at the Park Kultury station. At least two others died later. More than 100 people were injured.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, the country’s paramount leader, cut short a trip to Siberia, returning to Moscow to oversee the federal response. Mr. Putin built his reputation in part on his success at suppressing terrorism, so the attacks could be considered a challenge to his stature.

Mr. Putin vowed that “the terrorists will be destroyed.”

President Dmitri A. Medvedev, Mr. Putin’s protégé, was in Moscow and was briefed on the blasts by top law enforcement and security advisers.

More……..

Update…..President Obama condemns the attacks……link……..…

Putin loses one…..will it matter?

Russian’s highest court ruled against the imprissonment of Planton Lebedev, a business partner of  Mikhail Khodorkovsy, who most believed was sent to jail by Vladimr Putin for have a big mouth, and not going along with Putin’s program of giving the Russian government control of its natural resources…..

The action came under pressure from a 2007 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which said Russia had violated Mr. Lebedev’s rights in the way the court handled his pre-trial detention.

Russia is bound by treaty to honor the Strasbourg court’s rulings, which in recent years have frequently come against the Russian government.

The prosecutor at Wednesday’s hearing had asked the court not to strike down the rulings but to issue a non-binding finding against the officials who had been involved in the cases. Prosecutors declined to comment on the ruling, beyond saying that it will not lead to Mr. Lebedev’s release.

Stay tuned for more……

Russian Prime Minister Putin on leaving politics…..”Don’t hold your breath”…..

Here’s a link from the BBC and another one from AP,  about the annual Q & A session that the Russian Prime Minister holds with his countrymen and women…….

If I was the current Russian President, Dimitry Medvedev….I’d have my retirement home fixed up…….

Russian Prime Minister Putin on leaving politics….."Don't hold your breath"…..

Here’s a link from the BBC and another one from AP,  about the annual Q & A session that the Russian Prime Minister holds with his countrymen and women…….

If I was the current Russian President, Dimitry Medvedev….I’d have my retirement home fixed up…….

Obama Canceling the Missile Shield…good mileage, a mad GOP and a happy Russia………

President Obama in his administration’s latest episode of ‘ keep’m busy, throw things at them’…..Announced yesterday that the United States was canceling the Reagan and Bush era grandiose missile star wars missile shield program………..Everyone parroted the song that the Poles and Czechs would be pissed.

When the announcement really wasn’t for them …was it?……

It was for the Russians…instead of getting in their faces..Obama has gone to his basic technique of pragmatism with a move to accommodate the Russian insecurity about the program…..and garner Obama some wiggle room in several things……namely, Iran and pressure on Europe and it gas problems……while everyone has been busy else where Obama has been told and shown quietly that the Russians have been making chess moves that have not been the US’s interest….flexing on the old Soviet satellites, backing Iran and building a nuclear power-plant for them and working to flex on its growing oil reserves…….

I’ve always said that Obama is a smart man…and this move was smart……

The Poles  and Czechs will get over there initial disappointment because they will still get Patriot missiles and a shorter range defensive system……..Putin and his President have reacted favorably to the Presidents announcement…and NATO has followed up on it with an offer to a  hold joint system, san offer the Russian’s have turned down from Bush II .

Obama is gonna get grief here in congress but, I applaud the CIC for moving steadily away from BushII’s smash mouth diplomacy (Hillary IS the bad cop to Obama’s good cop)…..and giving peace a chance……