[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

What a crock! Did Bush suggest they talk with the terrorists? No wonder Putin is mad. What a bunch of double talk to suggest that they need to talk with their enemies while the US does not.

No different than Washington telling Israel they can't defend themselves against their terrorists.

I am beginning to think the Cold War was the fault of the Amerians, not the Russians.

I am convinced we should have been HELPING the Russians in their war against Afghanistan.

Putin should be drafted to be our Secretary of State.

[Netizen]

Good points on all counts!

[WoofDog123]

"Putin should be drafted to be our Secretary of State."

Former head of Secret Police foe SecState???

he is right though, the US public stance on this stuff is absurd. I wonder how much is just posturing..

[squarebarb]

The reason we succeeded in Afghanistan and the Russians didn't is that the Russians had nothing to offer the Afghanis but more repression and misery under some cheap greasy little commissar and centralized bureacracy applied with firepower. Ties to a collapsing communist hellhole.

The U.S. offered freedom.

Same with Chechnya. Putin has nothing to offer the Chechnyans but the above, don't want to repeat myself.

No wonder they're fighting Russia. They are choosing to stick with the ugly warlords they know, rather than others they know aught of. Or whatever is the proper wording of the quote.

That said, Chechnya seems a perfectly gruesome place with no ability to imagine something better than drugs, kidnappings, Sharia law and/or Iron Age warfare.

[squarebarb]

The reason we succeeded in Afghanistan and the Russians didn't is that the Russians had nothing to offer the Afghanis but more repression and misery under some cheap greasy little commissar and centralized bureacracy applied with firepower. Ties to a collapsing communist hellhole.

The U.S. offered freedom.

Same with Chechnya. Putin has nothing to offer the Chechnyans but the above, don't want to repeat myself.

No wonder they're fighting Russia. They are choosing to stick with the ugly warlords they know, rather than others they know aught of. Or whatever is the proper wording of the quote.

That said, Chechnya seems a perfectly gruesome place with no ability to imagine something better than drugs, kidnappings, Sharia law and/or Iron Age warfare.