Winning Hearts & Minds
From the BBC, Putin attacks ‘very dangerous’ US:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has attacked the United States for what he said was its “almost uncontained” use of force around the world.
America’s “very dangerous” approach to global relations was fuelling a nuclear arms race, he told a security summit.
[snip]
Mr Putin told senior security officials from around the world that nations were “witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations”.
“One state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way,” he said, speaking through a translator.
“This is very dangerous. Nobody feels secure anymore because nobody can hide behind international law.
“This is nourishing an arms race with the desire of countries to get nuclear weapons.”
While signaling that the Shrubbery can forget about any UN Security Council resolutions that permit the use of force when the US is involved, it is a major power saying what much of the world already thinks: the US is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The refusal to negotiate in any meaningful way has set the US outside the normal diplomatic sphere.
[A translation nitpick: the phrase “nobody can hide behind international law” , would have been better translated as “nobody can be shielded by international law”. Mr. Putin was speaking in Russian.]
February 10, 2007 2 Comments
