Putin's open letter to America published in the New York Times yesterday.
What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria
Seems to be more sensible than what some others are saying.
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Putin's open letter to America published in the New York Times yesterday.
What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria
Seems to be more sensible than what some others are saying.
Putin should cement his reputation in international politics by this one quote, bob
No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.
Most of what he says is true, or sounds true which is the art of diplomacy, but still he's is stretching it a bit .Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferret
Sadly he is not squeaky clean either re the international international law either,Russia has passed a law that allows the President to strike at "terrorists" where ever they might be, thus authorising the violation of other nations' sovereignty as he did for example when he had a chechen leader murdered by the FSB in the Qatar in 1994 and then pressured the country to release the FSB agents.
Some of the foreign fighters in Syria are chechens while they are busy there they cannot cause grief on russias southern borders so it s a win for russia's security as well
He mentions Afghanistan ironically it was an operation Russia supported both politically and practically at the time so a a bit cheeky then to try and use that to sway the American public.
Also, he completely ignores the part of Russia facilitating escalation of the conflict to begin with by backing Assad when his forces indiscriminately opened fire on and killed peaceful protesters against his clan's decades old dictatorial regime.
These actions have led to Syrians taking up arms against him which led to the chaos that enabled Islamists, often foreigners, to move in.
Had the Russians reigned in their friends in Syria earlier, this might not have happened????
Now, with over 100,000 deaths later and with a largely Islamised opposition, he uses the large amounts of deaths and the Islamist rebels as an excuse to stay out.
Quite a cynical approach and he is no better than any other country else in his apparent caring attitude.
Only the civilians suffer as I know from my refugee camp days in Africa and all nations could be helping with refugees which is still way cheaper than a war.
I saw it before it was removed - was good for a giggle on a thread that is getting a bit serious.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob10
Mother in law jokes are always good.
Garry
Yes, I know. Every body ignores what is inconvenient to them. When it's pointed out they did or said the same thing in the past they always use the excuse 'that was completely different circumstances'. That's politics, sadly it's demonstrated on TV almost every night.Quote:
Originally Posted by sashadidi
It's slightly disheartening when Putin is providing one of the more balanced and apparently level headed points of view.
sashadidi describes Putin's "message" very well.....and the message is a good one.
However, Putin is a hypocrite.
That message talks about many "wrongs"....but the truth is... he himself has been involved in many of them, & plenty more. ....and he has people arrested in Russia, if he doesn't like what they say.
He is ex KGB, he promotes himself in "stunts", which have been proven to be staged, to make himself look like Superman.....and I do not trust him.
Nevertheless, in this instance, the message is a good one, & if it helps to save lives/further conflict, that has to be good.
Cheers, Pickles.
Pickles, I agree with you 100% one side have the CIA and the other the KGB.
I hope that this conflict will not have an outcome similar to Vietnam for the benefit of arm dealers.
In the way the Putin is talking it is heading like the old times when Kennedy was in one side and Khrushchev in the other :(
Mate, You must be nearly as old as me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chucaro
Yeah, I remember Kennedy & Khrushchev. I also remember there was another Russian guy around at the time...I think his name was Bulganin or something like that....we used to call 'em (Bulganin & Khrushchev) "Bulge & Crush (Khrusch)"!!
Cheers, Pickles.
You may be thinking about Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin, he not was in good terms with Brezhnev.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pickles2
Bugger!!! I am getting old, I remember when I went to see Che in Montevideo and also remember Fidel when in 1959 visited Uruguay.