McCain comments on Russia's new president, so does Dmitry's wife

Stick with us a sec on this one, folks.

Never one to miss an opportunity to speak out on national security and foreign affairs, which just so happen to be viewed as his political strong suits, Sen. John McCain issued a statement today on the inauguration of the new Russian president with the unpronounceable name and the close ties to the guy who's really running the Russian show, Vladimir Putin.

While the surrogates of his Democratic would-be competitiors bickered over whether Sen. Hillary Clinton should give up her race before Sen. Barack Obama gets enough delegates to secure the party's presidential nomination, McCain said:

"I sincerely hope the beginning of the (Dmitry) Medvedev presidency will also be the beginning of a new era for Russia and for U.S.-Russian relations. The next U.S. President should look forward to working closely with Pres. Medvedev on the great issues of our day."

"Today," McCain added, "Pres. Medvedev pledged that his greatest duty would be to develop civil and economic freedom for the Russian people. I welcome this pledge and hope Pres. Medvedev will soon begin restoring and strengthening the institutions of democracy, including a free press and the rights of a vibrant Russian political opposition to express its views and run for office. That is what the Russian people want and deserve, and it is also what we want for Russia."

Yeh, yeh, fine. Gotta be honest with Ticket readers here. The real reason for this item is to publish this photo of the new Russian president's wife, Svetlana, celebrating her husband's ascension to the technically top spot over there. Doesn't she look happy?

Loyal Ticket reader Brian spotted this photo elsewhere, which reminded him and us profoundly of our very first Ticket item today with a photo of another president, actually an ex-president, named Bill Clinton. Wild Bill looks almost as happy watching his spouse as Svetlana.

The item from this morning, which actually examines the staging of some of Sen. Clinton's events, is here. A duplicate of that photo of Happy Bill is on the jump of this item, just click the Read More line below here.

--Andrew Malcolm

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Photo Credits: Vladimir Rodionov / Kremlin pool (top)

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images (bottom)

Comments

[Victoria]

Oh, come on! What's their unpronouncable about the new president's name? That's just funny.

[rumi]

proto miserables- fascists, mc pain clintons bushes et al

[Marc]

Maybe Russian women just dont smile at all. The other woman doesnt seem to happy either.

[David Owens]

You are a Times columnist. How far in the tank for Obama are you?

(Good one, David. You really must get out more--or read more items here. This isn't a column and it isn't the newspaper. And curious you would bring Obama into a McCain item.)

[Daniel P. de Gracia, II]

Congratulations to President Medvedev, and that's great that John McCain took initiative to make a policy statement on this.

[NK]

Good statement by Senator McCain. Best not to saber rattle with Russia who we should look at as a key ally if we have any hopes in diplomatically dealing with Iran. Hopefully the Democratic candidates make similar statements.

[Timothy Post]

I am an American who lives in southern Russia.

The lack of clear understanding of Russian affairs by the US Presidential candidates, not to mention the American mainstream press, is simply staggering.

Almost every instance of the US government and the Kremlin have problems stems from unnecessarily proactive US policies.

NATO expansion is the most obvious. When the break-up of the Soviet Union occurred NATO promised not to expand eastward any further than Germany. So much for that promise.

The so-called missile shield is in actuality a Trojan horse. The real objective of the project is to locate new radar stations so that the part of Russian territory not currently covered will be. Why shouldn't Russia object to the US building facilities in its backyard. The US has rejected out-of-hand all offers by the Russians to partner and build joint stations (Ajerbijian and Armavir).

Kosovo. Abkhazia. Why should they be treated differently. What good for the goose is good for the gander.

... and on and on.

Regarding Medvedev's wife, Svetlana, what's your point? So, a camera captured her looking seriously on her husband as he took the oath of office.

You obviously know very little about Mrs. Medvedev, in particular, and Russian women, in general. Svetlana Medvedeva is very hip and modern. She's been very active in the Moscow fashion scene and is often seen out and about. The talk of the town is about how she's going to bring some glamour to the Kremlin much in the same way Jackie Kennedy did before.

... and Russian women not smiling. Maybe at you they don't smile but they remain amongst the most beautiful women in the world.

Stick to topics you have some basic understanding of. Russia is not one of them!

[dave]

'pres. medvedev pledged that his greatest duty would be to develop civil and economic freedom for the russian people. i welcome this pledge and hope pres. medvedev will soon begin restoring and strengthening the institutions of democracy, including a free press and the rights of a vibrant russian political opposition to express its views and run for office. that is what the russian people want and deserve, and it is also what we want for russia.'
which obviously you, mccain, do not want even for america. whether you think the american people, who certainly want this, also deserve this, or not. but as long as people like mccain don't stop acting as dummies to enable corrupt minorities and their media tools to abuse their influence and power to keep the most vocal and distinguished exponents of democratic opposition from exercising their rights; and try by all means to stifle the efforts of a legitimate presidential candidate and finalist like RON PAUL to even get his vital message heard - that long, they have no moral business criticizing the leadership of other nations. and no wonder mccain is blind to the impossibility of his requests for russia ever coming true, as long as it's run by a puppet regime -
which he says 'the next u.s. president should look forward to work close with.' at least his wording indicates that he does not expect that this will be himself.