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Putin — Saruman Come Alive [Victor Davis Hanson]
National Review Online ^ | September 12, 2013 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 09/13/2013 10:53:01 AM PDT by 1rudeboy

[]

He the egoist sparingly uses “I”; our president the supposed consensus builder does so promiscuously. He reminded us of the demonstrably true fact that there are Islamists in the Syrian opposition and of the probably false fact that the Assad government is not using WMD. In general, Putin has conveyed a tougher military stance that has the president of the far more powerful U.S., a more humanitarian image than our smart- and soft-power leadership (do we still remember Hillary’s public chortle over Qaddafi — “We came, we saw, he died”?), and a more internationalist pose than our Nobel-laureate internationalist.

Putin lecturing Obama on the sacred value of the U.N. — who’da thunk it?

If a Russian dissident wrote and published a cry of the heart to the Russian people, begging Vladimir Putin to stop his harassment of opposition groups, journalists, gays, and ethnic activists and to moderate his behavior toward the former Soviet republics, he would either be jailed or disappear. That we not merely forget that fact, but are now increasing unaware of it, is testament to Putin’s political genius, which has capitalized on each embarrassing American misstep.

That we now receive sermons from Putin not just about morality, but even about U.S. self-interest, and that such advice is only two-thirds fantasy is testament to our own recent ineptitude and confusion — and, yes, to this administration’s bad habit of engaging in its own fantasies and obfuscations.

Sadly, Putin is now an impressive creature — but one in part of our own making.

Mr. Putin, the fact that you are a more adroit Machiavellian than our own president is a Wilsonian proves only that you are the superior strategist — not the moralist you imagine yourself, and surely not more moral than the president whom you seem so easily to embarrass.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Russia
KEYWORDS: putin; russia; sodomhusseinobama; vdh; victordavishanson
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This is an excerpt of a long column.
1 posted on 09/13/2013 10:53:01 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

2 posted on 09/13/2013 10:58:54 AM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: 1rudeboy
Hanson issues a timely reminder about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that made WWII possible - Russia gave Germany the blank check it needed to embark on the conquest of Europe. When Russia complains about its losses during WWII compared to relatively light American losses, it's like the guy complaining about being an orphan even though he killed his own parents:

Of course, as Putin reminds us, we fought together in World War II and should agree that such cooperation should be emulated. The Soviet Union suffered enormous losses for the Allied cause. Without such heroic sacrifices, the Anglo-American alliance might well have lost the war.

Yet Putin forgets to remind us that the Soviets’ war with Germany was prompted by betrayal. The Soviet Union was a de facto ally of Hitler. It kept sending him enormous amounts of materiel to help defeat France and attack Britain. Only Hitler’s 1941 double-cross caused the Soviets to go to war with Nazi Germany.


3 posted on 09/13/2013 11:00:15 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Sir Napsalot; Kaslin; neverdem; EXCH54FE; 2ndDivisionVet; Rummyfan; smoothsailing; Hojczyk; ...

VDH ping.


4 posted on 09/13/2013 11:04:51 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: 1rudeboy

If he’s Saruman, who’s Sauron?


5 posted on 09/13/2013 11:12:28 AM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: 1rudeboy

Great piece. Thanks for posting.


6 posted on 09/13/2013 11:14:27 AM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: 1rudeboy
Mr. Putin, the fact that you are a more adroit Machiavellian than our own president is a Wilsonian proves only that you are the superior strategist — not the moralist you imagine yourself, and surely not more moral than the president whom you seem so easily to embarrass.

After Zero's changing the Rules of Engagement in Afghanistan, Fast & Furious, shipping Libyan weapons to Turkey for use by the Muslim Brotherhood... I wouldn't be so sure about that assertion.

7 posted on 09/13/2013 11:15:48 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (Islam offers choices: convert, submit, or die.)
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To: TBP

If we have to find out, we are in sad shape, indeed. And some midgets will have to save us.


8 posted on 09/13/2013 11:17:35 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy
Putin’s letter to us, the American people, is brilliant sophistry ... channeling Obama back to Obama.


9 posted on 09/13/2013 11:19:42 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: Servant of the Cross

More like Putin the Grey becoming Putin the White.


10 posted on 09/13/2013 11:21:35 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: TBP

Sauron.... my hypothesis is Soros, alternative hypothesis is the “Bilderbergers”.


11 posted on 09/13/2013 11:25:30 AM PDT by mason-dixon (As Mason said to Dixon, you have to draw the line somewhere.)
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To: mojito
Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo . . . and it's worth fighting for.

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers.


12 posted on 09/13/2013 11:30:41 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

Excellent piece.


13 posted on 09/13/2013 11:34:48 AM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: TBP
If he’s Saruman, who’s Sauron?

That would be Satan. Here's Lucifer ....!


14 posted on 09/13/2013 11:36:09 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: 1rudeboy
If only we had a hobbit as our president.
15 posted on 09/13/2013 11:45:32 AM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: 1rudeboy
I wholeheartedly agree with VDH that at times Putin's tone in the Oped was a little too mellifluous.

I think that was EVERYONE's initial reaction.

16 posted on 09/13/2013 11:51:06 AM PDT by Dysart (Being nuts has its advantages...and the machete doesn't hurt, either.)
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To: Dysart
I wholeheartedly agree with VDH that at times Putin's tone in the Oped was a little too mellifluous.

"Congratulations, you just said the secret word."

17 posted on 09/13/2013 11:55:05 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator

Truth is I had to look it up. That doesn’t happen very often, but I will be using in a sentence henceforth.


18 posted on 09/13/2013 12:00:05 PM PDT by Dysart (Being nuts has its advantages...and the machete doesn't hurt, either.)
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To: 1rudeboy
If Putin is right (and many of us think that he is) that the opposition to Assad includes unsavory Islamists, he must also know that the Assad family regime is itself a criminal enterprise, whose long history of misdeeds includes mass murder at Hama and assassinations in Lebanon. ... In fact, there is not “every reason to believe” that the gas was used by opposition forces. There is real confusion about who used it.

On the subject of the issue at hand, Syria, VDH displays an ignorance of fact and logic that was dispatched a couple of weeks ago by the collective intelligence of FR. It is quite clear who launched the chemical attacks in Syria last month: the U.S.-trained, supplied and supported terrorists.

The U.S. should not have been supporting the MB and AQ in Syria for the past two years. All the U.S. has accomplished is to drive Assad further into the clutches of Russia and Iran. To this end, Obama and his Saudi overlords have used our military and intelligence resources on our dime to further their interests, not ours.

The secular Assad government would not be a bad U.S. ally, if we could ever arrange that after the mess that Obama has created. The 2-1/2 million Alawites from which Assad's family arose are a relatively 'moderate' strain of Shia Islam whom most Shias view as not even Muslim. The other components of the Assad coalition are 2-1/2 million Christians, plus the Druze and Ismailis. Assad has been able to work with the 70% Sunni majority, bringing many into government and the military. All these groups form a bulwark against Sunni fundamentalism. If Assad survives, this could be a project for the next President.

Mass murder at Huma? Dig deeper, VDH.

19 posted on 09/13/2013 12:26:11 PM PDT by Praxeologue
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To: 1rudeboy

“For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!’I

“for I am Putin the Wise, Putin King-maker, Putin of Red Colors....and I f*rt in the general direction of the weak d*ck Obamadork.”


20 posted on 09/13/2013 12:26:17 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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