The fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he has the moral compass to talk about diplomacy is in itself laughable. The fact that he sees himself capable of teaching the idea of Diplomacy to Americans is Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud.
Putin and the Syrian leader Bashar Assad jumped on an off the cuff remark by Secretary of State John Kerry, where Kerry suggested a total surrender of Syria’s chemical weapons as the only way to avoid military action. The here’s our weapons ball began rolling almost immediately with Putin leading the way and here at home, the Republicans – who haven’t yet met a war they didn’t like – suddenly became peace makers, lovers of diplomacy. They began praising Putin The Savior yesterday, as if he was Christ getting ready for the second coming.
All this love going his way from the Republicans in the United States Congress and the exaltation from a right winged media blitz on all this week, must have went straight to Putin’s head, prompting him to pen an op ed in the New York Times. A Plea for Caution From Russia was written well, made some good points. But the message was totally corrupted by the messenger.
Ordinarily this part of the message I would agree with. In this passage, Putin explains how much of the world view America and our military power, and the irony of using the military to protect innocent people who sometimes end up being inadvertently killed by military action.
Putin, take it away!
It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”
But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.
No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.
If that was all Putin had to say, then his message would be more acceptable, more believable in spite of the messenger. But then Putin went where he clearly had no right going.
At this point in his article, Putin was probably admiring the masculinity of his shirtless physique in the mirror, when decided to tell Americans that we are not exceptional and shouldn’t even feel like we are.
Brace yourself.
My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.
And the part of Putin’s message that showed us just how broken his moral compass really is, and why the message was totally corrupted was when he talked about everyone being equally created by God… Yes, Putin really said that. Yes, the same Putin who is persecuting people in Russia because of their sexual orientation. That same Putin said this:
We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.
Putin, put your shirt back on. You are not muscular and you are no saint, despite what the Republicans say.
