Foreign Affairs: Anton Barbashin: 'The Eurasian Economic Union Is An Illusion'

Source:Foreign Affairs- President Vladimir Putin (Nationalist, Russian Federation) meeting with his fellow Slavic leaders.

Source:The New Democrat

"On the first day of 2015, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia officially launched the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a trade bloc that Moscow hoped would one day bring the former Soviet nations back together. The initiative, however, appears to be a failure. The EEU is nothing more than an illusion—and an unconvincing one at that.

For two decades now, Russia has called for the integration of former Soviet states as equal partners, as in the European Union. Several unsuccessful early attempts toward that goal included the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), now a largely defunct conglomerate of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan...

You might be able to read the rest of this article at Foreign Affairs. 

"The leaders of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have sealed a deal to introduce a Eurasian Economic Union which will come into existence on January 1 alongside a joint security agreement.

As this was meant to be a meeting of minds in a friendly environment journalists stared  opened mouthed as Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko, launched a stinging attack on Russia, while sat next to an amused President Putin." 

Source:Euro News- 

From Euro News

"Euronews (styled on-air in lowercase as euronews) is a European television news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. The network began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and covers world news from a European perspective.

The majority of Euronews (88%) is owned by Portuguese investment management firm Alpac Capital[2][3][4] with the rest partly owned by several European and North African public and state-owned broadcasting organizations.

It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in most of the world (with the exceptions of Canada, Turkey, Singapore, China, Cuba, and North Korea)[citation needed] via its website, on YouTube, and on various mobile devices and digital media players, including Fubo TV, Sling TV, Pluto TV and Haystack News." 

From Wikipedia

Eurasia (lets call it) the area east of the European Union with the first Slavic states and former Soviet republics, all the way over to the Arab states, will never be very successful economically as long as Russia is run by someone who simply wants to put the Soviet Union back together. Or bring back all of those republics back to Russia. And not so much interested in what is in the best interest of the people in these countries. Because decisions will always be made on how to obtain greater power and territory. And not what is in the best interest of the economies in these Slavic countries.

Russia will always be a potentially great country and new superpower, with its great and educated population, land mass, and natural resources and not actually returning to the world again as a superpower, but this time economically to go along with militarily and diplomatically, as long as Vladimir Putin is running the government there. Whether he has the official title as Russian Federation President or not. 

As long as Vlad is interested in obtaining more power and territory for Russia and not developing the economy so it reaches most if not all the Russian people, Russia will remain a developing power, if not country all together.

The Onion: 'John Elway Casually Mentions To Peyton Manning How Great it Was Going Out on Top'

Source:The Onion- John Elway to Peyton Manning: “I got to tell you Peyton, it’s much better going out as a Super Champion, then as a playoff failure. Trust me, I know this from personal experience.” LOL

Source:The New Democrat

“DENVER—Saying that it was the absolute perfect way to end his Hall of Fame career, Denver Broncos general manager John Elway casually mentioned to Peyton Manning just how great it was to go out on top as a Super Bowl champion in 1998, sources confirmed Friday. “You know, walking off the field for the last time as a world champion was really something else,” said Elway, adding that not much could ever top being hoisted onto his teammates’ shoulders as the last seconds of his career ticked away, not to mention the fact that it is the image most NFL fans will forever associate with him and his legacy. “Obviously, winning one Super Bowl was great, but getting two back-to-back was just incredible. And it felt especially amazing after always coming so close and hearing people say for years that I choked when it really mattered. Oh, and riding off into the sunset as a member of the same team that I played my whole career with? Yeah, I’d definitely say that was pretty special.” Elway reportedly added to Manning that walking away from the game on his own terms with perfect health was equally, if not more satisfying.”

From The Onion

"Doc and Kenny answer "fan mail" about terrible receivers in Denver, confusing NCAA-upset sex, and Bryce Harper's dickishness."

Source:The Onion- When you play in the Mile High City, the only way to go is down. Which is something that Peyton Manning has learned the hard way.

From The Onion

I’m going to be serious for a minutes, all right fine maybe two minutes just to say that Peyton Manning even if he is the best regular season quarterback of all-time, which would be like being the best team of all-time that didn’t win the Super Bowl in the NFL, Peyton who I respect as a great quarterback, is simply overrated. Peyton Manning is a fan favorite of the stats and now generation. People who judge athletes by their numbers and the fact that they are playing now, must mean they are better than players who played before simply because of that.

If you judge players especially quarterbacks by how well they play in the playoffs and their record in the playoffs and not how many times they threw for four-thousand yards and thirty touchdown passes, Peyton would be pretty far down on the greatest quarterbacks list. Even if he is the best regular season quarterback of all-time. And keep in mind, all of Peyton’s personal success as a quarterback as far as stats has not come in the passing age, which was the 1980s and the 1990s. But the Roger Goddell age where the NFL has simply decided that offense is more important than defense for financial reasons. And have made it very difficult for defenses because of the rules to be successful.

I mean how many great quarterbacks do you know of have losing records in the playoffs and are headed to the Hall of Fame if they are not already there? Peyton Manning would be one, can you name any others. Tom Brady could easily tell Peyton, “look, you have better numbers, but I have the numbers that count the most. I’ve won twice as many playoff games that you have and have won 2/3 of my playoff games. I’ve played in five Super Bowls, won three of them and have a winning record in them. But you look better on SportsCenter, YouTube, social networks and so-forth. So congratulations, but I’ll keep my victories and championships”. I doubt Brady has ever said that, but he could and would be right about that.

Is Peyton Manning one of the best quarterbacks of all-time and lets say that is top ten if not twenty, dumb question and he’s probably somewhere around ten for me, if not further back. And of course he’s a top two or three quarterbacks of his era. Only behind Tom Brady and Brett Favre, because of what Brady and Favre accomplished both in the regular season and playoffs. But I’m getting tired of hearing Peyton mentioned as the greatest quarterback of all-time and I’m not that comfortable about him as the greatest regular season QB of all-time. Simply because of the era he played in. And he’s certainly not the best quarterback of all-time and neither is Tom Brady.