Posted on 02/24/2005 2:04:23 PM PST by wjersey
Bratislava, Slovakia, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- We may not yet be talking about divorce but the extended honeymoon period between U.S President George W. Bush and his increasingly autocratic Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin came to a definitive end Thursday at a summit between the two leaders in the Slovak capital of Bratislava.
It all happened following the end of bilateral talks when a televised press conference turned into a relentless and devastating assault on Putin's backsliding on democratic reform.
Since global democratization has been made the centerpiece of Bush's second term foreign policy agenda, analysts and politicians in the United States and elsewhere had billed this meeting as the first key test of the American president's credibility.
As Russia analysts James M. Goldgeier and Michael McFaul had put it in a commentary in the current issue of the Weekly Standard:
"If the president neglects to affirm his commitment to freedom with Putin at his side, Bush will be signaling that his words don't count."
So most of us were expecting the issue to be raised, if only in passing.
But no one could have been prepared for what was about to unfold.
While observing diplomatic niceties, President Bush's opening remarks included a pointedly blunt statement of his concern that Russia was not fulfilling "fundamental" democratic principles.
And this was nothing to what President Putin was forced to endure in the subsequent questions, every single one of which focused on democracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
And we have the weapons to take them out too, big deal.
Troll ? You are the one trolling for China and Russia.
"Putin dismissed domestic criticism of actions that have been seen as limiting democracy as the carping of the rich who can afford to spread their opinions.
Taking umbrage at international criticism of a move to take greater control of the selection of provincial governors, Putin said there wasn't that much difference from the U.S.'s electoral college system.
"The candidates ... will be submitted to regional parliaments that are elected through secret ballot by all the citizens," Putin said.
"This is, in essence, a system of the electoral college which is used on the national level in the United States. And it's not considered undemocratic, is it?" Putin asked."
Moscow Times
His comments on democracy allude to democracies not allowing themselves to be robbed. Rest assured that Mr. Putin's recent problems all stem from Russia's seizure of Lord Rothschild front man Khorodkovski's shilled Yukos shares.
Rothschild is sending in a collection agency.
Rather bizarre to our ears isn't it? It is an echo from the evil empire days, when the entirety of the Russian press were government shills.
Thanks for the links. I had understood there was a link between Hezbollah and Iran; what was less clear was how they threatened the American people. In reading the CFR report and briefly looking over the Global Security article, I'm not convinced that our security is threatened by them. John Quincy Adams' comment still applies: "We do not go abroad, in search of monsters to destroy."
BTTT
LOL. I could be lost. If so, it wouldn't be the first time. At the same time, since you have refused to address the nature of my criticism- which is that realpolitik depends on both incentives and punishment- I take it that you don't want to have a substantive debate.
Afghanistan was far away..They had no weapons to threaten our security we thought....not here.
I might as well talk to a tree, you don't even think Iran has anything to do with terrorism. Guess what, they are all in on it, every country in the middle east. When you figure that out, get back to me.
Ex Talon News White House reporter Jeff Gannon works for the Russians now???
Maybe it is because we DON'T have the military capability we had when Bush's father took office
And guess who we have to thank for that.
I'm hoping that GW becomes more Reagonesque and restores it to the pre-Klintoon level. One can hope.
what do we have that can take a sunburn out before it hits the target?
W is no Reagan!
You're right. He has a style of his own. But he's still GREAT.
"...the guy looks like a beady eyed rat."
He is just that.
Thanks for the advice (not sure what it means though). Not clear what Iran has to do with global terror; if there are links, they are tenuous.
I'm reading your posts here and it sure seems like you are quite misinformed. Iran, in many ways, is a bigger threat in the WOT than either Afghanistan or Iraq. Iran has been more subtle in their methods. The Taliban and Saddam gave us "invitations" to attack them. Iran is now doing the same thing(probably Syria too). My guess is that iran will be the next country to see our fury in the WOT.
very little hard informative commentary has come from him. I am waiting to see what missile defense fire control systems we have that can take a Sunburn missile out, as he has stated. Instead I get accused of being a flip flop and a shill.
I think Iran is a very different sort of target than either iraq or afgh.
1. Iran is believed to have had a couple of nuked (cobbled together/bot whatever) for quite some time now. I have been reading stuff to this effect since the mid-90's. Presumably the failure of controls on Soviet nuke assets facilitated this.
2. I think the student/activist protests in Iran, while certainly from heartfelt feeling by the participants, must be at least partially funded by the US, probably in part at least due to #1 and #3.
3. Taking out a regime like Iran, a major contributor to world oil markets and a country with a real ballistic missile program, would have potentially tremendous counsequences for world oil mkt and economy.
The MSM (lefties as I recall) makes a lot of noise about Putin. The Neocons(artists) who love COMMUNIST slave labor China make a lot of noise about Putin. So Bush speaks up to embarres him. So far this fall out has cost us the Murmansk oil deal, that oil is now flowing to Japan, S.Korea and China. Now, if Putin turns foe, that will cost us most of the easy ride in central asia just as Pakistan is labelled as the most American hating nation in the world (with Nukes too) and Iran is getting militant (not that it isn't to some degree always). How are we supposed to continue in Afghanistan with all this?
I hope the watch word here is not Hubris or we'll have problems.
Don't forget that just 3 years ago China threatened to destroy half of America. Of course all the blood soaked stocks from the slave labor that the elites own, might have something to do with how no one will say a word to China.
3. Taking out a regime like Iran, a major contributor to world oil markets and a country with a real ballistic missile program, would have potentially tremendous counsequences for world oil mkt and economy.
All three points taken and agreed. However, I think that Iran is a bigger threat overall than any other ME country. It will have an effect on the world oil market, but that just be a price that has to be paid to neutralize the ME situation.
You can be sure the CIA is working overtime in Iran these days.
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