Cold War redux: Friendship over between Russia and the United States!

Never let it be said, again, that President George W. Bush is such a stubborn fool that no matter how disastrous any of his policies turn out to be (Iraq), he will stick with it – in the delusional belief that this demonstrates “strong leadership.” Because, after his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin almost five years ago, Bush declared that he looked into Putin’s soul and found a “kindred spirit when it came to democratic values.”

But, in a conversion worthy of Saul of Tarsus, Bush dispatched his Vice President, Dick Cheney, to Putin’s doorstep in Vilnius, Lithuania yesterday to deliver the following message confirming his loss of faith in Putin’s spirit:

Russia has a choice to make. And there is no question that a return to democratic reform in Russia will generate future success for its people and greater respect among fellow nations….In many areas of civil society – from religion and the news media to advocacy groups and political parties – the government has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of her people…no legitimate interest is served when oil and gas become tools of intimidation or blackmail…and no one can justify actions that undermine the territorial integrity of a neighbor or interfere with democratic movements.

Loss of faith? Them is fighting words comrade!

Of course, if Bush had only browsed my series of articles over the past year on Putin’s unabashed retreat from democratic reforms in Russia, he would have discovered here, how Putin:

Arrested the owner of Yukos Oil (think Chairman of ExxonMobil who just retired with a golden parachute of over $400 million) on dubious charges of tax evasion, and then seized the company’s assets because he deemed it in the interest of the Russian state.

Censored the press – which flourished under his predecessor, Boris Yelstin.

Abolished the election of all Russian governors and decreed that, henceforth, they shall be appointed by him instead. (Not exactly the Night of Long Knives but just as effective.)

Interfered in the domestic affairs of former Soviet republics – including his well publicized attempts to undermine democratic revolutions in Georgia and the Ukraine; and

Reclaimed the Stalinesque power to dissolve the Russian legislature by fiat.

All of this Putin did just last year in what I termed the Putinization of Russia (i.e., reforming the country in his own image and in a manner that would have made Joseph Stalin proud).

However, Bush would also have discovered here, how Putin:

Aided and abetted Iran’s nuclear program and sold sophisticated arms to rogue leaders like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, despite America’s protestations.

Or here, how Putin:

Countered his (Bush’s) doctrine of fomenting democracies in America’s image by promulgating his own doctrine of democratic relativism and fomenting democracies around the world in Russia’s (more-totalitarian) image.

Or here, how Putin:

Ignored corruption by people in his inner circle who were, indeed are, profiting under the color of the state, just as the (“Jewish”) oligarchs – for whom he has expressed such political contempt – did under Yelstin.

Or here, how Putin:

Launched the first salvo in a new Cold War with the West just months ago by cutting Russia’s supply of natural gas to newly democratic Ukraine for refusing to recognise his extraterritorial (superpower) prerogatives – over all of the former socialist states of the Soviet Union.

There’s more, but I think you get the point.

So, here’s to your belated conversion Mr. Bush. And, trust me, Putin will suffer no love lost after hearing of your loss of kindred spirit with him….

Game on!

NOTE: Ironically, just as the world needs the UN most – as a credible cooling-off chamber for heated rhetoric between potentially-warring states (like Russia vs. the U.S. or the U.S. vs. Iran), this organization is now as discredited as some Thirld World dictatorships. Click here for my CNN article – published today – which explains why….

Dick Cheney, Vladimir Putin, United States, Russia