Posted on 03/06/2006 7:45:56 AM PST by dead
The Bush Administration should stop pretending Russia is a genuine strategic partner and adopt a new policy of "selective co-operation" and "selective opposition" to the authoritarian government of President Vladimir Putin.
In a grim assessment of the recent "downward trajectory" under Mr Putin, the Council of Foreign Relations said that in Russia democracy is in retreat, corruption on the rise and the Kremlin an increasing obstacle to US interests. The goodwill that developed between President George Bush and Mr Putin, particularly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has eroded, the bipartisan task force said in a new report.
"Russian-American relations are clearly headed in the wrong direction," it said. "Contention is crowding out consensus. The very idea of 'strategic partnership' no longer seems realistic".
John Edwards, a former Democrat senator who co-chaired the taskforce with Republican former housing secretary Jack Kemp, said the Administration has shied away from addressing Mr Putin's behaviour.
"What they've done is focused on the positive things Russia is doing and been soft on the problems," Mr Edwards said.
The report crystallises a growing reassessment of Russia in Washington five years after Mr Bush first met Mr Putin and "looked into his soul", as the President put it at the time. Rather than champion democracy and Western values, the former KGB colonel has moved to reassert control over Russian society and eliminate opposition.
There has also been concern about Russian manoeuvring to force US troops out of Central Asia, Moscow's use of energy exports as a weapon against smaller neighbours, and Mr Putin's reaching out to Hamas...
< snip >
Russia's expected hosting of this year's Group of Eight summit has exacerbated concerns. Some also are questioning whether Russia belongs in the club of the world's leading industrial democracies.
(Excerpt) Read more at smh.com.au ...
Incredible but true.
Since when do we treat Russia as a "strategic partner?" I think they could be a strategic partner, but we've made little effort to bring them on board.
Nah, just look in Pootie's eyes. He's a soul mate. :)
Russia is a strategic partner...
Imagine every country in the world is a football team, the USA will pull for Russia to win when it benifits us...and the exact opposite is true. That is the only way we are partners with them or 90% of the countries in the world.
I too have revised my view of US/Russian cooperation.
Russia still sees the world in a polar fashion. The old communist party heads just changed their titles to CEO/CFO from their old party names. Their KGB tactics have not changed (Dioxin of Ukraine president), blackmail of German diplomats…….
While the scope and size of threat is less since the Soviet Union is gone and Warsaw Pact has dissolved, they work directly against us in every fashion. Iraq, now Iran, even in the former Soviet states it's Russia that behind closed doors calling the shots and pressuring them to boot us out and thereby trying to compromise the mission in Afghanistan. They helped spread the "NO WMD" in Iraq rumors, sabotage NATO..... They simply see anything that weakens our position as advantageous to them.
They are definitely NO ally. Although the threat they pose today is less and in some few instances we actually cooperate.
True. But the President is convinced that Muslims using car bombs to take over the world are a bigger threat.
Yep, they have enough nukes to actually have an independent foreign policy, but their overall armed forces are not nearly enough to prevail anywhere outside of the boundaries of the old USSR. That said, their interests definitely do not coincide with all of our interests.
ping
ping
They see any weakness on our behalf as beneficial to them.
Anything that works against us is viewed as good.
Not much has changed, we are still in a pseudo state of war as in the Cold War where we in reality were killing each other "unofficially" (Russian pilots in Korea, Russian SAMs in Vietnam, US stingers in Afghanistan, US SF in Africa conducting OPS against Cuban forces in Angola....etc) we today still work against each other. We are no friends, that’s for sure.
Today you have Russia supply SA18s (Advanced MANPADS) to Syria, SA15 to Iran (December of 05 deliveries began).... Do you "really" think Russia will push for any action on Iran? Of course not! It's a big game, and they in reality are in bed with Iran. All the so called "negotiations" in Russia serve ONE purpose. It's to take off the heat on Iran. To "de-legitimize" and further steps in the public opinion internationally. As with Iraq, these actions have NOTHING to do with the reality on the ground. Iran plans to build a bomb, the rest is smoke and mirrors.
Nice. LOL
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