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The Mind Of Mr. Putin (America's Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy Tradition Exposed)
Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via LewRockwell.com,
So Vladimir Putin in his U.N. address summarized his indictment of a U.S. foreign policy that has produced a series of disasters in the Middle East (that we did not need the Russian leader to describe for us).
Fourteen years after we invaded Afghanistan, Afghan troops are once again fighting Taliban forces for control of Kunduz. Only 10,000 U.S. troops still in that ravaged country prevent the Taliban’s triumphal return to power.
A dozen years after George W. Bush invaded Iraq, ISIS occupies its second city, Mosul, controls its largest province, Anbar, and holds Anbar’s capital, Ramadi, as Baghdad turns away from us — to Tehran.
The cost to Iraqis of their “liberation”? A hundred thousand dead, half a million widows and fatherless children, millions gone from the country and, still, unending war.
How has Libya fared since we “liberated” that land? A failed state, it is torn apart by a civil war between an Islamist “Libya Dawn” in Tripoli and a Tobruk regime backed by Egypt’s dictator.
Then there is Yemen. Since March, when Houthi rebels chased a Saudi sock puppet from power, Riyadh, backed by U.S. ordinance and intel, has been bombing that poorest of nations in the Arab world.
Five thousand are dead and 25,000 wounded since March. And as the 25 million Yemeni depend on imports for food, which have been largely cut off, what is happening is described by one U.N. official as a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
“Yemen after five months looks like Syria after five years,” said the international head of the Red Cross on his return.
On Monday, the wedding party of a Houthi fighter was struck by air-launched missiles with 130 guests dead. Did we help to produce that?
What does Putin see as the ideological root of these disasters?
“After the end of the Cold War, a single center of domination emerged in the world, and then those who found themselves at the top of the pyramid were tempted to think they were strong and exceptional, they knew better.”
Then, adopting policies “based on self-conceit and belief in one’s exceptionality and impunity,” this “single center of domination,” the United States, began to export “so-called democratic” revolutions.
How did it all turn out? Says Putin:
“An aggressive foreign interference has resulted in a brazen destruction of national institutions. … Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster.
Nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life.”
Is Putin wrong in his depiction of what happened to the Middle East after we plunged in? Or does his summary of what American interventions have wrought echo the warnings made against them for years by American dissenters?
Putin concept of “state sovereignty” is this: “We are all different, and we should respect that. No one has to conform to a single development model that someone has once and for all recognized as the right one.”
The Soviet Union tried that way, said Putin, and failed. Now the Americans are trying the same thing, and they will reach the same end.
Unlike most U.N. speeches, Putin’s merits study. For he not only identifies the U.S. mindset that helped to produce the new world disorder, he identifies a primary cause of the emerging second Cold War.
To Putin, the West’s exploitation of its Cold War victory to move NATO onto Russia’s doorstep caused the visceral Russian recoil. The U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine that overthrew the elected pro-Russian government led straight to the violent reaction in the pro-Russian Donbas.
What Putin seems to be saying to us is this:
If America’s elites continue to assert their right to intervene in the internal affairs of nations, to make them conform to a U.S. ideal of what is a good society and legitimate government, then we are headed for endless conflict. And, one day, this will inevitably result in war, as more and more nations resist America’s moral imperialism.
Nations have a right to be themselves, Putin is saying.
They have the right to reflect in their institutions their own histories, beliefs, values and traditions, even if that results in what Americans regard as illiberal democracies or authoritarian capitalism or even Muslim theocracies.
There was a time, not so long ago, when Americans had no problem with this, when Americans accepted a diversity of regimes abroad. Indeed, a belief in nonintervention abroad was once the very cornerstone of American foreign policy.
Wednesday and Thursday, Putin’s forces in Syria bombed the camps of U.S.-backed rebels seeking to overthrow Assad. Putin is sending a signal: Russia is willing to ride the escalator up to a collision with the United States to prevent us and our Sunni Arab and Turkish allies from dumping over Assad, which could bring ISIS to power in Damascus.
Perhaps it is time to climb down off our ideological high horse and start respecting the vital interests of other sovereign nations, even as we protect and defend our own.
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Democracy and freedom are not necessarily the same thing. Thomas Jefferson said that democracy is mob rule. Rather important is a nation of law, a republic, in which the government adheres strictly to civil and religious rights. If the people are corrupt in a democracy, they will vote in all kinds of oppressive policies which are contrary to individual freedom.
I think one of the greatest evils now in the U.S. is the way corporations have such influence and power, greatly corrupting the process. Just like Big Pharma influencing California and Governor Brown to trample on rights of conscience in forcing parents who have religious objections to vaccinate their children.
does super pac mean anything to anyone?
The SCOTUS who allowed this should have been thrown from the bench.
Hmm...
The Soviet Union tried that way, said Putin, and failed.
then there was this:
“First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” Putin said.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7632057/ns/world_news/t/putin-soviet-collapse-genuine-tragedy/
So the USSR was a great big stinking failure (according to Putin today) but it was a genuine tragedy (according to him) back in 2005.
My, how times have changed. Which is it, a failure or a tragedy? He can't decide. "have to get back to you on that"
I suggest you watch Putin's interview on 60 minutes. He explained what he meant by why the collapse of the Soviet Union was a great tragedy. Nothing to do with preserving the Soviet Union but rather the millions of Russians living outside their homeland literally overnight.
Stop getting your news from US propaganda sources like nbcnews.com
Takes one to know one
Nurse is calling. Bedtime for kiddies. Off you go now there's a good child.
Simple.
1) Whatever one thinks of the USSR, it provided a potent balance of power and its demize gave the Empire of Chaos full rein to go for global hegemon and perpetual war, which is a tragedy that Russia only now is strong enough to counter,
2) For average Russians/Soviet citizens there was internal stability and social security ... then suddenly - after getting sucked into the Afghan War - the IMF and World Bank were called in, austerity was imposed, State assets got sold to oligarchs for pennies. Unemployment and poverty soared and many people starved, until Russia defaulted about 1999 and things slowly turned arond. That was a tragedy orchestrated by Western financial menipulation.
3) Not surprizingly millions of Russians look back fondly to what was good about the USSR - OK with rose-tinted glasses - and that's why the Communist Party is the second most popular Party.
Don't forget that Putin said, "Anyone who does not miss the Soviet Union has no Soul. Anyone who wants it back has no brain,"
You have missed the nuancies and depths,
Here is the reply to your question in Charlie Rose's interview with Putin.
CHARLIE ROSE: You also said that the worst thing that happened in the last century was the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Soviet empire. There are those who look at Ukraine and Georgia and think that you do not want to recreate the Soviet empire, but you do want to recreate a sphere of influence, which, you think, Russia deserves because of the relationship that has existed. Why are you smiling?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Laughing) Your questions make me happy. Somebody is always suspecting Russia of having some ambitions, there are always those who are trying to misinterpret us or keep something back. I did say that I see the collapse of the Soviet Union as a great tragedy of the XX century. Do you know why? First of all, because 25 million of Russian people suddenly turned out to be outside the borders of the Russian Federation. They used to live in one state; the Soviet Union has traditionally been called Russia, the Soviet Russia, and it was the great Russia. Then the Soviet Union suddenly fell apart, in fact, overnight, and it turned out that in the former Soviet Union republics there were 25 million Russians. They used to live in one country and suddenly found themselves abroad. Can you imagine how many problems came out?
First, there were everyday issues, the separation of families, the economic and social problems. The list is endless. Do you think it is normal that 25 million people, Russian people, suddenly found themselves abroad? The Russians have turned out to be the largest divided nation in the world nowadays. Is that not a problem? It is not a problem for you as it is for me.
If you might be interested in reading the rest of the interview here is the link
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/50380
There is nothing contradictory in those two statements, especially if you understand them.
What the hell
Ya'd think the US would have learned how to use terrorist properly by now.
They should have consulted the experts, Rooskies
They have had 50 years experience!
Oh, I am sorry, did I hurt you with the TRUTH!!???
No.
An idiot's version of the TRUTH is the same as the result of multiplying a whole number by zero.
Hope I didn't hurt you with that fact.
The USA/Israel are largest purveyours of STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM on the planet.
Now you can go back to sucking ISIS cock you pathetic faggot.
I gave you a greeny for using the term "pathetic faggot".
Putin's speech received no coverage in UK msm. Obama's got a lot.
All I know is, the older I get and the less dependent on my parents the tougher life is. It's tough to work, and to not have anyone to talk to during the day. However, sometimes my mental well being is shocked when I think of the amount of slaves in the third world that must work so I can live my ridiculous lifestyle. Is it 20, 30, 40? Ever read the top of the Zero Hedge site?
"100,000 dead in Iraq" understates the casualties by ten or twenty times and marks out Mr Buchanan as just another Deep State shill, as we have always thought.
there's enough mashed potatoes and gravy in his article to make up for that understatement
Dr. Ron Paul also exposed what our foreign policy was doing but for some odd reason, there are people who turn their minds off when his name was spoken. A lot of that had to do with how the mainstream media used propaganda to make sure people didn't listen. And what he spoke about in 2007/08 debates was so far ahead of its time, many people didn't understand. If you go back and listen to what he said in those debates, he talks about how our foreign policy would cause blowback and unintended consequences. He talked about non-interventionism and allowing other countries to make their own decisions. He spoke openly of neocons and their desire to keep constant chaos and wars going on in the world. But at this point, if people are listening.....even if its from Putin, I'm ok with that. But for those who didn't give Dr. Paul a chance, go listen to his speeches or read some of his writings. He was way ahead of his time.
If what we are witnessing in Syria now is a war of lies and propaganda, the US will probably win.
If what we are witnessing is the legitimate destruction of terrorists and mercenary rebels, then Russia might win.
Except US media doesn't cover the whole planet, only the western sphere and even there's independent news that tells the truth
let's hope so
the MSM isn't going to tell us
The lies and hypocrisy by the USA are now wide open for the WHOLE world to see.
They have no desire for peaceful co operation.
They are nothing more than vile bullies trying to steal everyone's lunch money,
If Assad would be gone they would keep bombing until they got the puppet they want in power.
Those days are OVER,thanks to Putin,
And the fucking cocksuckers DTSY and Message here days are numbered.
Have you noticed that the two ZH posters you describe in your last sentence hardly ever show up on the weekends? I'll bet that they work a 9-5 5 day week like the rest of usa.gov. If they do respond it's probably some offshore stand-in, but not the real thing.
Like NAZI Germany before it, the sickness that is the USSA will have to be confronted and it is sooner rather than later. If Mercans think that Russians will tolerate USSA attacks and a USSA war plan on its terms then they have no understanding of the wound left in the Russian soul by the NAZI atrocities committed on their territory. There will be no conventional war with USSA (Mercans NEVER fight real armies). If the Anglozionazi Empire of Chao$ decides to attack Russia then try an all out nuclear attack stunt and wait for the inevitable end.
Meanwhile flush your fiat petroscrip Saudi Mercan dollahs before the Ponzi crapper in the Potemkin Village "economy" ruptures the mother of all sewer$!
Comment to Sen. Tom Cotton on his Facebook page
''You sons of bitches have to work for the American people not for some terroris foreign body like israel that targets women and children and steals their land. And also the USA has funded and trained ISIS who has butchered thousands of Syrian Christians. Syrian Christians support ASSAD. Thus , Tom Cotton,, you and Huckabee, and others who claim to be ''Christian'' should be supporting Assad in his fight against terrorism.
Good article. Especially this sad truth which confirms what many have said "we spent 70 years destroying the USSR, so we could take its place".
Meanwhile, Washington's ignorant march to war continues.
Very clever way for Mr Putin to differentiate Russia from the old Soviet Union.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/03/us-afghanistan-attack-idUSKCN0...
The U.S. military on Saturday acknowledged it may have bombed a hospital run by medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Afghan city of Kunduz in an air strike that killed at least nine people and wounded 37.
The incident could renew concerns about the use of U.S. air power in Afghanistan, a controversial issue in America’s longest war. Former President Hamid Karzai fell out with his backers in Washington over the number of civilians killed by bombs.
ww3 is arounf the corner
Putin left out two key terms.....oil & petrodollar system.
Nah, better to leave them out. This way the western propaganda machine can hang on its own petard.
I'm very sorry for whatever maladies are leading the dreadfully misguided folks who slaughter innocents in an Oregon School, a South Carolina Church, etc.
However, there must be some way to re-direct these vulnerable people to start firing at the psychopaths who are destroying our country and trashing nations around the world. Surely, they could recognize a more powerful, ideologically coherent version of their own kind as a legitimate target.
Deleted
The beast which was dead has come alive (Israel)
The beast rules the world 666, (CabalJuice control US, CIA, FBI, stock mkt)
On the beast , rides a whore(America)
The whore has served sin to the world (pornography, dollar, materialism)
The statue with head of gold & feet of clay will be destroyed (9/11)
The beast will go to war
but in the war the beast & the whore will be destroyed.
End of rule of Satan America, allies and the of Cabals