ST PETERSBURG JUNKET BARES PUTIN'S VANITY.

The St Petersburg International Economic Junket has officially opened. The
junket's theme this year is Effective Leadership. Over 5,000 people from 87
countries are taking part in the junket, including President of Finland Sauli
Niinisto, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China He Guoqiang
and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. More than 30 countries are
represented at the ministerial level.

Welcome to Putinland, where the president and premier swap jobs at will,
where the constitution is an empty shell and all power rests with Vladimir
Putin. The deal between Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev is a farce that will
eventually transform Putinland to Putanaland! The proud Russian nation is now a
czardom. Russian democracy is gone with the wind.


Kleptocrats are often taking very expensive junkets, taking advantage of their
positions and access to public funds to undertake pleasure trips thinly
disguised as being of political importance. For example, a keptocrat might
travel to Greece, claiming to attend a conference there, but leaving plenty of
days to explore the Greek islands and Greek delights at leisure.

The countries to this junket account for about 90% of global GDP. Overall, the
discussion's participants share the view that the situation in the global
economy looks quite alarming, but that is nothing new for the people who have
gathered today in this hall. There are great many imbalances and accumulated
debts. You are all aware of the situation in the leading Eurozone countries:
Germany has 81%, France – 86%, the United States – 104% and the figure for Japan
is even higher. This undermines the confidence of the business community and
makes investors wary.

Kleptocrats, accompanied by their kith and kin, are going to junkets because
they cannot miss a good party at taxpayers' expense. The worst thing that could
happen in a junket is running out of caviar and hookers. Many junketeers use
military jets that cost 10,000 euros per hour! Deputies of the European
Parliament (EP), aka Eldorado of Prostitutes, love junkets!

Putinland does not agree with Occident on many issues, because Putinlandian
intelligence has proof that most of the revolts are incited by Occident. It
does not make any sense that Occident incites the fire and then screams to stop
the fire!

VAT is the major culprit of European depression. You should revolt against VAT,
buying products online from companies that evade VAT. The largest online
retailers offer top quality products at deep discounts without VAT. Some
fantastic offers are displayed on http://venitism.blogspot.com

Putin believes there is a need for urgent coordinated action in order to restore
and reinvigorate global finance and their rigid adherence to the fundamentals of
the real sector of the economy. In addition, it would be fair and reasonable to
raise the issue of strengthening the role of developing countries and new
economic powers in the elaboration and adoption of steps shaping the global
economic order.

Global junkets of kleptocrats fail to live up to the hype and the promises made.
A lot of money is spent laying them on. Host cities are disrupted for days or
even weeks. The cavalcades roll into town. Good intentions are shared in
productive talks. Then, somehow, those intentions rarely seem to come to
fruition in real, tangible global action. When kleptocrats meet again a year
later, they find things haven't really moved on. Spending two billion euros on
a global junket is preposterous.

When kleptocrats meet each other on junkets, they exchange gifts paid by their
taxpayers. The most expensive gifts, and secret cash under the table, are
given by the Royal House of Saudi Arabia. That's why so many Eurokleptocrats
are eager to meet the Saudi princes! The ridiculous awarding of medals among
politicians should be banned. It insults the intelligence of citizens. Medal
swapping is as disgusting as wife swapping! http://venitism.blogspot.com

The current double-headed eagle of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin has become increasingly authoritarian. Despite numerous
commitments under international law, the government has tightened controls on
political life, civil society, and the media. Disruption of political
opposition's activities, restricting access to state-controlled TV, human right
violations, such as the beating of demonstrators who support the Russian
constitution, murder of journalists and anti-corruption activists, disappearance
and torture, abuse of the legal system for monetary and political gain, all
illustrate this negative trend. Putin, a former penniless KGB agent, is now
billionaire, thanks to kickbacks!

Putin discussed at the meeting of the BRICS leaders, which was held on the
sidelines of the G20 Summit. These countries not only confirmed their resolve to
contribute to the implementation of stabilisation measures, to strengthen the
stability of the global economy, but also took concrete steps in this direction:
they have assumed the obligation to contribute an additional $75 billion to the
IMF.

In April 2010, Putin signed a decree that suspended the publication of
information about the assets, revenue, and expenditure of Russia's two oil
funds. This allowed him to manipulate government's finances, while launching a
pre-election spending spree, siphon off money for friends and allies, and
camouflage bribes, kickbacks, and hush money. He boosted military and police
spending by 33 percent, and promised future pay and pension increases for the
armed forces, teachers and doctors. Putinlandians have been fleeced, pure and
simple.

Putin's wish to influence the way in which these funds will be used is natural.
Putin believes that we must proceed from declarations to the actual reform of
the IMF and other international financial institutions, a reform that will
reflect the new economic balance of power. In general, Putin talks about the
development of viable updated rules for world trade and mutual investment, the
practical resolution of issues of sustainable development, including energy
security.

Putin intends to give priority to all of these issues and to actively promote
them during Russia's upcoming presidency in G20 in 2013. Putin proposed that
next year's G20 junket is held in St Petersburg. Putin and his men proudly
declare that they have returned Putinland to
strength. In truth, they have hijacked it. Putinland 's constitution is little
more than an empty shell that does a poor job of concealing the neofeudal regime of
Czar Putin.

G20 junkets are waste of money and time. Each G20 junket costs more than two
billion euros, squandering the taxpayers' hard-earned money. G20 represents 90
percent of global GDP, 80 percent of world trade, and 70 percent of the global
population, including key kleptocracies such as BRICS. This is far more
inclusive and representative than G8, which the G20 has largely displaced, and
more than adequate to make agreements to act collectively credible and
effective. The issues on G20's burgeoning agenda are critical global problems,
and solutions may indeed be fundamental to sustainable, balanced and inclusive
growth in the long term.

Consumption pattern of a woman bares her soul. A sophisticated reader of
http://venitism.blogspot.com tends to be a product of Sephora beauty and
Nordstrom fashion, buys Amazon books and gadgets, reads Cosmopolitan magazine,
uses an HP computer, uses a Canon camera, likes Hotel Chocolat candy, shops at
Macy's, Myjewelrybox, ThinkGeek, and eBay, and uses paypal. Her favorite story
is Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.

Putin declares the time has come for the G20 to take on the full responsibility
of effective leadership. This means that the G20 should not turn into another
elite club that cares only about its members. Selfishness and backroom deals do
not add to stability and confidence.

The two main threats to G20's effectiveness are political corruption and lack of
domestic legitimacy within member kleptocracies. G20 is widely perceived by hoi
polloi as transnational corrupt elites hatching plans behind closed doors in
insulated centers of kleptocracy. Without genuine ex ante engagement to build
trust and support with diverse domestic constituencies — labor, business, civil
society, bloggers, and the members of parliaments that purportedly represent
these different interests — kleptocrats will never have the space within the G20
to negotiate meaningful agreements.

Putin's bear seems now to be a very different animal. The snarling statist
bear with a statist head has been replaced by a lovable bear, and while it may
not be ready now to roll over and have its belly tickled, Russia will not take a
bite out of its rivals. Uncle Sam (US) and Uncle Ken (UK) now like to pet this
bear!

In order to modernize Putinland's economy and industry, Putinland needs
cooperation partners from abroad, and those modernization partners are to be found mostly in
USA and Fourth Reich. That's the logic that lies beneath Putinland's new softer
foreign policy towards the West. It shows that external policy is seen as an
instrument for internal development and modernization.

Putin asserts the G20 must become a venue for elaborating fair rules for the
sustainable development of the entire global economy. The intercontinental
nature of the global economy, where all states depend on each other today
entails the global nature of responsibility – for the world's leading economies
first and foremost.

Siberia increasingly is to Putinland what Putinland is to the world, a supplier
of raw materials that those who are consuming them take without much thought to what is
happening at their source economically or ecologically, a pattern that Siberians
find increasingly unacceptable. The Kremlin uses its neighbors and Europe's
dependence on Putinlandian natural gas as a foreign policy tool to pressure
states. In 2009, Putinland cut off gas supplies to Ukraine and to Europe by extension,
causing the International Energy Agency to deem them an unreliable supplier.

Hail! A sensitive issue cannot be fully explained in a post, but only in a
speech, in that magic eyeball to eyeball contact, baring my soul, and declaring
truths that cause shock and awe. That's why I look forward to the invitation of
your organization to speak at your conference. Basil Venitis, venitis@gmail.com