MOSCOW (element) -- Moves by the United States Congress to block the sale of oil company Unocal to a Chinese buyer have prompted President Vladimir Putin to warn his American counterpart about the dangers of protectionism and revanchism.
"I spoke to my good friend Georgie-poo, and I told him that we in Russia believe that free trade is considered a basic value in the civilized world," Putin told reporters. "We don't want to see America revert back to the dark old days of nationalism and protectionism, and so we're concerned when we see Congress threatening China if it buys an American oil company."
Putin also took time out to criticize America's human rights record. "We're very troubled by reports that American women continue to gain 1.2 kilograms (2.5 pounds), on average, every year in that country. Millions of American males are being deprived of the basic human right to have available, sexually desirable mates. This isn't just a Russian value, this is a universal human value, and in the past decade or more, America has been moving away from the civilized Slavic world."
