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Upcoming Events
Smaug Meetings We will be meeting on Thursday instead of Monday. Please check on the email list or Facebook about that. Our meetings will now be held at the Asana teahouse in downtown Santa Cruz, at 103 Lincoln St, between Pacific Ave and Todal Fitness. Taqueria Vallarta is around the corner and a block down Pacific, at 1101 Pacific. An exception will be Wednesday, 30 December, when we will have a meeting instead of the following day, New Year's Eve. The meeting time is now 7:30 pm. Some people may wish to show up earlier, and that's fine, but bring your own extension cord if you need one! Note: Our old meeting location - Tiny's - reopened on 6/15 as an IHOP We have sometimes used the new IHOP as a meeting place. Their wi-fi signal isn't very good, so far, so we are back downtown for the time being. Announcing Cabrillo's CGLUG hosts an installfest on the 3rd Friday evening of each month, during the school year. For further information, check the Lindependence has just run a series of installfests in Felton. They plan to have another series in Boulder Creek later this summer. For further information, check the Lindependence Web Site Felton LUG Future Events Linux Picnic Linux Picn*x 19 will be held on Saturday 21 August 2010 at Sunnyvale Baylands Park. DEF CON 18 Links
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Being Putin
It's not easy being Vladimir Putin. The former Russian president was often criticized for his policies (aptly called Putinism) during his term. Even if his term is long over, he's still misunderstood; U.S. president Barack Obama, before embarking on a state visit to Russia, said that Putin's Cold-War approach to U.S.-Russia ties is outdated. There's some truth to Obama's statement, as Putin once worked for the Committee for State Security (more known as KGB). In fact, critics of Putin claimed that those who surrounded him during his presidential term were connected to secret police groups. They added that his administration was more of a fascist state that wasn't far too different from Josef Stalin's regime. Despite the serious charges, Putin enjoyed the support of the Russian public. He revived Russian economy after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. He undermined the influence of the business oligarchs, whom he claimed have attempted to make Russia vulnerable. Putin's influence grew and he would've stayed for another term if not for a law that prohibits heads of state from seeking a third term. So he groomed Dmitry Medvedev to succeed him. Some ranted that there was a new president long before the presidential elections were held. And maybe this was the only way for Putin to stay longer in public office; he was chosen as Prime Minister after Medvedev was formally swore in as president. This political set-up didn't sit well with the U.S. In fact, it's the latest saga in the chilly relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Many papers from superiorpapers have discussed this in great detail. Obama presented himself as the man of change during last year's presidential elections and he kept his promise so far; he rather not be antagonistic with nations that the Bush administration was at odds with. He seeks the same thing with Russia, which is a challenge. Putin still exerts influence, but can Obama do something? It will be known in a year (at the most). Stephenrusedski's blog | login or register to post comments |
