Putin delivered his speech in English with such a vicious look on his face that everyone got the message: if they voted for Korea, they’d be beaten to death with hockey sticks on the way out. Bottom line, I’m pleased. Our guys were great: clearly they slipped money to the right people and also put together a solid presentation. And I’m doubly pleased because Volodya-the-ecologist-defender-of-ants lost me a 10-liter bottle of Hennessy XO. He argued with me and said that "the international community would never allow the destruction of a unique mountain-climate zone." **Volodyenka! For a couple of briefcases full of petrodollars, the international community will allow absolutely anything! **Too bad I didn’t make a bet with dimagubin. I could have gotten some kind of drink out of him too. P.S. Guys in the comments on the post about Tesak (a Russian neo-Nazi activist), who are threatening to gouge each other’s eyes out—cut it out. You’re making my email glitch.