Russia gets ornery

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech last week at the Munich Conference on Security Policy in which he basically accused the US of overstepping our bounds and creating instability across the globe with our actions in Iraq and our missles.

One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations. Well, who likes this? Who is happy about this?

While Putin had some excellent points, his peech had a definite air of "who you calling bitch, BITCH??!!?" Putin is clearly sick of criticisms that Russia is sliding into authoritarianism, that Russia is using it's energy resources to strong-arm its neighbors, that Russia has cracked down on free speech, democracy, and that the kremlin may be involved in the murders of its opponents.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Putin, and my first reaction to his speech was anger, because it seemed so hypocritical, and so obviously a means of deflecting criticism of Russia. However, as I've read it a little more closely (its available at www.kremlin.ru/eng), I've come to begrudgingly admire Putins chutzpah in calling a spade a spade. For the past six years, the US has been preaching one thing and practicing the other. Our "War On Terrorism" has essentially turned us into what we were fighting against in the first place: a country that holds people without charging them, that practices torture, that lies to create wars and then shuts down any opposition or criticism, that spies on its citizens, that preaches freedom and practices oppression. The rest of the world has been waiting for us to fuck up and now we have. As a nation we need to regroup, reassess, and renew our commitment to the values, ideals, and practices that make America a great country.

And we need to realize that Russia is not our bitch. Russia was a superpower. The russians are very happy that they are financially more secure today, and that they have become a contender in world affairs again. The US has not been as gracious as it could have been to Russia during its difficult transition to Capitalism, and during its difficult dissolution of the former Soviet Union. A little respect and sensitivity is called for. Russians are a lot like Americans - they are very patriotic, and truly believe that their country is one of the greatest on the planet. The US could do a better job of respecting that.

And Russia, for its part, could stop acting like such a ginormous arrogant prick. And maybe stop murdering opponents in the streets. Just maybe.

-pst