Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Naive York Times

Maybe they just didn't want to sound too paranoid...
It's hard to disagree with Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism of Russia on Thursday. Vladimir Putin has indeed reversed the democratizing course set, however clumsily and incompletely, by Boris Yeltsin, and he is using Russia's vast reserves of oil and gas as tools of intimidation and blackmail. Still, however much we agree with the content of Mr. Cheney's remarks, the unavoidable reaction is to question their motives and usefulness. There was a time when a strong statement from Washington in support of human rights and democratic behavior carried real authority. But of late the human-rights record of this administration has eroded its moral authority, and Mr. Cheney is closely associated with some of its most offensive policies.

(snip)

The Bush administration has been working hard for weeks to line up Mr. Putin's support for a United Nations resolution aimed at halting Iran's nuclear enrichment activities. Without Russian backing, that effort cannot succeed. In that light, the timing of Mr. Cheney's remarks, which were vetted by the White House, seems rather odd.
So... Cheney's criticisms may have sabotaged the chances of a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear aspirations? Wow, what could possibly explain a mysterious gaffe like that...

5 comments:

Elmo said...

...I hope your not of drafting age.

Eli said...

Not currently, anyway...

Indy6 said...

Glad I found this blog. Good work.

What absolutely knots my brain is the fact that the Cold War never really end. Anyone who has been paying attention for the last 20 some odd years knows it.

Ronald Reagan did not win a war that never ended.

All the old Russian bear did was dump the dead weight and work on bettering themselves economically, knowing that the U.S. would do something incredibly stupid, just as Bush as done.

Putin said that the arms race is not over. What does that tell us?

The obnoxious Disciples of St. Ronnie are the biggest fools on earth

Eli said...

Thanks!

Well, Russia isn't openly adversarial anymore, and they're not trying to build their own counterweight empire - at least not yet.


Once they're on a sounder footing, I can see them becoming like China - more of an economic rival than an ideological enemy (China is not exactly our ideological buddy, but I don't think that's the biggest source of friction right now).

Anonymous said...

I don't think you need to worry about a draft. Bush plans to nuke em. God I can only hope he gets impeached before that happens.