Volodya’s Op-Ed
First off, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is quite capable of writing in English and German, and probably other languages, but the idiom used in the op-ed was American, so aides polished it.
While it is addressed to Americans and appeared in the New York Times the target audience was the rest of the world.
The content is ironic and almost sarcastic by design, and he is well aware that most American officials will miss that, no doubt claiming that it is ‘ironic’ for the President of the Russian Federation to have written it.
The Guardian has the text of the op-ed without requiring the deposit of your first-born child.
The problem for Americans is that they receive their news primarily from the US corporate news media, and have no idea what the US gets up around the world, nor how what we do internally is viewed by other countries.
Most Americans don’t understand that to extradite people from Europe we have to guarantee they won’t face the death penalty. There are a lot of things the US does that are considered barbaric by most of the rest of the world. The US is not seen as a shining beacon of hope anymore.
The sad reality is that Vladimir Putin has more credibility in the world than Barack Obama. This is payback for the cancellation of the face-to-face meeting.
8 comments
Vladimir Putin is a thug. But he is a smart thug, one who rose to the top of the thugocracy that is modern Russia. Unfortunately I think the Obama brain trust checked their brains at the door. That’s my only explanation for the Obama administration’s idiotic Syria policy, which could be summarized as “yell loudly and carry a small stick.”
Thing about Putin, Putin doesn’t yell loudly. He just looks at you with a knowing smile on his face, and you start looking around wondering what truck is about to run over you or, if in Russia, start planning your funeral like that lawyer who exposed corruption and mysteriously died in custody after being convicted of, well, exposing corruption basically.
Not a man to play strip poker with. You never know what cards he has, and in the end you’re standing naked and shivering wondering WTF just happened to you. Just ask John Kerry, who just got his pants ripped off of him and is standing there, undies flapping in the wind, wondering what just happened to him. 😈
Putin is using the worse of American politics to hold on to his power. He studies and adapts whatever he feels is effective, from whatever source is available. In many ways he is the distillation of the most effective politicians that the US has produced.
Zero and Kerry aren’t even in the same league as the evil son of a bitch, which is why they keep playing his straight men on the world stage.
Zero and Kerry remind me of teenage gangsta wannabes, strutting down the street like big shit, and there’s Putin, the O.G., they try to give him some shit and he goes, like, “for reals, bitches?” and just looks at them and they go slinking off like whipped puppies.
Oops, sorry, my 3rd Ward of Houston days bubbling up. Man. Hard to believe that was half a lifetime ago. It seems like yesterday…
If Putin signs off on the November deadline of the deal just inked in Geneva, then something will get done by November. Assad doesn’t know what Zero might do, but there is no question in his mind what Putin will do, and it won’t be a few missiles. Putin has cred, Zero doesn’t.
At this point Assad has computed the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining chemical weapons, and undoubtedly has arrived at the conclusion that the disadvantages well outweigh the advantages. The only advantage was that it kept the Israelis nervous enough to keep them from swooping in on Damascus, but after the nose bloodying that Hezballah gave the Israelis in Lebanon, he has to believe by now that he has little worry about on that front. So if Putin signs on the dotted line, I agree with you, it’s happening.
As for Putin’s cred, just ask the Georgians, they ignored Putin over Ossetia and got their nose smacked with a rolled-up newspaper until they were crosseyed and bloodied. I suspect they’re believers now :).
There has been a lot of German reporting that Assad told local commanders not to use chemical weapons, but they were used anyway. I don’t think he has anywhere near the power and obedience his father had. This may be a way for him to polish his image if he is ever hauled before the ICC, and Putin has certainly pointed out what will happen if Russia doesn’t use its veto on the Security Council.
Putin also has a direct line to Ayatollah Khamenei to apply even more pressure. He knows who rules Iran, while the US keeps mucking about with the elected President.
Putin doesn’t make threats, he makes promises.
Jon has been doing pretty good coverage of this. Especially about the US hypocrisy, as only he could! 😀
TDS – Sep 12 – Vladimir Putin and Syrian Diplomacy, Billy Crystal (full)
And they have a Special Edition on Syria also:
TDS Special Edition – Syria (full)
If you can’t or don’t want to see the whole episode, there is a shorter version of that piece here:
TDS: Castrated America – Fox News criticizes President Obama taking Roger Ailes’ advice regarding Vladimir Putin and Syria. (03:03)
That would have to represent the ultimate in hypocrisy! 😆 And what a bunch of total assh*les and morons! A-mazing!
So, Obama and his warmongers want to go after Syria, even though they have signed AND ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), but ignore Israel (signed but not ratified nor declared it’s stockpiles) and countries such as Angola, North Korea, Egypt and South Sudan who have not signed the treaty or declared any chemical weapons, even though it’s known they have them.
Yeah. Putin is looking the winner in this round. Nobody trusts or believes the USA in anything any more, whilst Russia is becoming more believable and trustworthy (even though people know Putin is a despot). You can bet that Putin is loving this! And will continue with every chance he get’s to make the USA look like the schoolyard bully and sociopath. What a crazy World.
Putin won’t ignore things that affect what he perceives as the Russian sphere of influence, or which affect his hold on power. He has a new alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church which at the core of the new homophobia laws and is part of the Syrian issue. The current Patriarch is looking for crusades and Putin is willing the help. If Assad falls the Syrian Christians are probably wiped out, and a lot of them are Orthodox which worries the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Putin isn’t the only Russian looking to extend his power.