Russia Revels In US's Woes
By John Helmer
http://www.atimes.com/
4-23-4
MOSCOW -- Nuri Said was the puppet prime minister of Iraq during the
1950s, when the British pulled all the strings in Baghdad. When he was
toppled by revolutionary Iraqi officers in 1958, Said's mangled corpse
was dragged through the streets. His end more or less confirmed what
he used to say: "You can always rent an Arab, but you can never buy
him." The Bush administration is filled with men with short memories
who won't have heard of Nuri Pasha, and aren't in the frame of mind to
listen to his advice.
Asia Times Online told this story in September of 2002 (Russia rooting
for a quick hit on Saddam), and 18 months later it deserves to be
repeated, especially after Said's gruesome fate recently befell four
American security men at the hands of an Iraqi mob in the town of
Fallujah. Since their intensely televised death and dismemberment, the
American occupation forces have faced surging rebellions by the two
major communities of Iraq, the Sunnis and the Shi'ites. Their attacks
have also targeted foreign civilians, pseudo-civilians, and soldiers
of fortune in Iraq, forcing widespread evacuations.
For the first time, the US military leadership in Washington, fearing
the political consequences of adding fresh, inexperienced US forces to
Iraq, has cancelled the one-year rotation agreement it had with its
troops, extending their service in the war zone for another three
months. Rotation was a scheme devised by the White House to limit the
extent to which unpopular and unwinnable wars might provoke mutiny in
the ranks, and votes against the president at home. The one-year
rotation failed to staunch the crack-up of the US Army in Vietnam, but
neither presidents Lyndon Johnson nor Richard Nixon dared to cancel
the rotation promise.
The political calculation by President George W Bush is that, even if
the disgruntled families of the 20,000 troops affected immediately -
one in every seven in Iraq - vote against him later this year in the
presidential elections, that will still add up to fewer votes against
him than if he adds 20,000 new troops who begin to suffer casualties.
The military calculation is that it will not be possible to preserve
the US position in Iraq by paying local Iraqis to replace departing US
forces. They must stay to fight; or they must retreat. The recent
fighting has demonstrated for all to see that Said's warning has
returned to haunt those who ignored it. The Iraqis whom Washington has
rented will never risk Said's fate. And so, win or lose against
Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, Bush has started down the slope
that once defeated Johnson and Nixon, and put a brief stop to
Washington's imperial ambitions.
That's a slope which Russian policy has no interest in either
precipitating or accelerating - so long as it has the same outcome for
US expansionism.
At the time of Nuri Said's downfall, and again during the Vietnam War,
the American leadership attributed its troubles to the cleverness of
the Soviet Union, mostly because it was the Cold War, and Washington
had no other way of explaining, let alone accepting, outbreaks of
nationalism, localism and the like.
President Vladimir Putin, his Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and new
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov understand how easy it would be for
Bush and his circle to revive similar charges, and put the blame for
their own mistakes and battlefield losses on the Kremlin. They
understand, too, how different the war in Iraq is from the war in
Vietnam. They realize that the American people have even less
commitment to the imperial fight this time than they had before. The
Russian policymakers understand that it is Israel, and its men in
Washington, who are mostly calling the shots for the president. The
Russian assessment, and American public opinion, are therefore likely
to converge, as the Arabs begin to exact the same toll on Americans in
Iraq, as the Palestinians have been doing to the Israelis in that
occupied territory.
Israel is trying to shoot its way out of a casualty ratio of one of
their own to three Palestinians. For the time being, the US is trying
to cope with a ratio of one to 50. Israel's effective capture of the
White House has taken a half-century to pull off, and for those, like
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Pentagon advisor Richard
Perle, who now command the heights of US power, this is a do-or-die
campaign. Only it will be patriotic Americans who will be doing the
dying. And they are not as malleable as their president.
Russian policy is therefore founded on letting the battlefield serve
as a reminder of Nuri Said's warning. Officially, Moscow would like to
effect a substitution of US troops for a combination of Iraqi
sovereignty and United Nations support. But sovereignty cannot be
rigged by Wolfowitz and Perle, nor paid for by the US Congress and
Halliburton Corporation. Nor can Bush's puppets in England, Australia,
Italy, Poland, Ukraine and Japan pretend to UN legitimacy. The Iraqi
resistance is making sure that point is already clear (ask Spain).
Sooner or later, the allied occupation forces will have to be
replaced. But creating a new Iraqi political consensus will take much
longer than Bush has realized.
Until that happens, Russian policy is to try to neutralize the damage
that the Israeli faction in Washington can do, and try to advance a
strategic relationship with the Americans who may be able to wrest
power over Bush from the grip of the Israelis. Two remarks by Ivanov
on his recent visit to Washington indicate this direction. The
Kremlin, said Ivanov, "considered joint Russian-US efforts within the
framework of the counterterrorism coalition to be much more important
than our differences about the war in Iraq ... " The US alliance, he
added, regarding the Balkan conflict in Kosovo, but a general
principle nonetheless, "must finally understand that one cannot flirt
with political extremists".
For Russia, it is crucial to prevent the deteriorating US position in
Iraq from becoming the policy of perpetual war and territorial
aggrandizement, which has characterized the Israeli policy for
decades. To this end, having such a person as Bush in the White House
may be preferable, if the extremists around Bush can be defeated by
the simple facts on the battlefield.
Ivanov and other Russian officials have acknowledged recently that if
the Americans were to decide to abandon their redoubts in Iraq, as
they did in Vietnam, the communal instability inside the country would
pose severe risks of spreading. And that isn't in the Russian
interest, so long as Islamic fundamentalism already threatens across
several Russian frontiers, and inside the Russian Caucasus. Ivanov
made clear also that, beyond the Chechen conflict, Russia is
especially concerned to protect the movement of its exports,
especially energy, to market through waterways and pipelines that are
vulnerable to attack.
Ivanov told his Washington audience that he expects that the most
likely conflicts between the Great Powers that may "flare up in the
foreseeable future will certainly be related to the economic domain,
to the needs to secure by the individual, national states of their
national interests, especially in the sphere of economy". Teaching
Washington to accept that Russian economic interests are not
antithetical to American ones may take time. But as long as the US
keeps making costly mistakes in Iraq, time is on Russia's side. And so
is the price of crude oil.
- Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/FD21Ag02.html
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
24 Apr 2004 06:54:00 AM |
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Why?
The Islamists seek their destruction as well, Russia should wise up and join us
in this fight against barbarians.
Tony
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| User: "Ex" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
25 Apr 2004 07:50:58 AM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040424075400.21890.00000187@mb-m23.aol.com...
Why?
The Islamists seek their destruction as well, Russia should wise up and
join us
in this fight against barbarians.
Tony
You mean Fundie-Nuts, correct? I don't believe every practicing Muslim seeks
the destruction of every non-Muslim.
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.659 / Virus Database: 423 - Release Date: 4/15/04
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
26 Apr 2004 04:55:32 AM |
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Ex"
wrote:
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040424075400.21890.00000187@mb-m23.aol.com...
Why?
The Islamists seek their destruction as well, Russia should wise up and
join us
in this fight against barbarians.
Tony
You mean Fundie-Nuts, correct? I don't >believe every practicing Muslim seeks
the destruction of every non-Muslim.
Do you see any Muslims trying to stop the "Fundie-Nuts" that you mentioned?
No, neither do I.
Tony
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| User: "tw" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
26 Apr 2004 05:53:51 AM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040426055532.05832.00000058@mb-m03.aol.com...
Ex"
wrote:
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040424075400.21890.00000187@mb-m23.aol.com...
Why?
The Islamists seek their destruction as well, Russia should wise up and
join us
in this fight against barbarians.
Tony
You mean Fundie-Nuts, correct? I don't >believe every practicing Muslim
seeks
the destruction of every non-Muslim.
Do you see any Muslims trying to stop the "Fundie-Nuts" that you
mentioned?
Yep, plenty of UK Muslims are prepared to speak out against the extremists:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3658761.stm
"Mr Abu Hamza has been criticised by many British Muslims and others after
praising Osama Bin Laden and condemning Britain, the US and Israel. "
No, neither do I.
That's because you're too busy promoting yourslef as a stud and engaging in
your grubby little habits to keep any eye on teh real world, Wassabbi.
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| User: "Werewolfy" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
26 Apr 2004 04:09:29 PM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040426055532.05832.00000058@mb-m03.aol.com...
================================================================================
I'm not at all convinced that the headline is true.
I fancy that the US revels still in Russian woes. Considering the
upheaval and change within Russia, and the poverty and misery
widespread, well, I doubt that the US should have many concerns about
Russians wandering Moscow streets, 'revelling' in US woes.
It's collapse as a military counter-balance has freed the world of
those two 'super-powers' acting...injudiciously...and destroying the
planet.
Sadly, with but the one 'super-power, the world is in a dictatorship.
Werewolfy
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| User: "cesar" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
26 Apr 2004 04:20:47 PM |
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"Werewolfy" <RickyColeclough@aol.com> wrote in message
news:85ebfda0.0404261309.66ebbe87@posting.google.com...
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040426055532.05832.00000058@mb-m03.aol.com...
============================================================================
====
I'm not at all convinced that the headline is true.
I fancy that the US revels still in Russian woes. Considering the
upheaval and change within Russia, and the poverty and misery
widespread, well, I doubt that the US should have many concerns about
Russians wandering Moscow streets, 'revelling' in US woes.
It's collapse as a military counter-balance has freed the world of
those two 'super-powers' acting...injudiciously...and destroying the
planet.
Sadly, with but the one 'super-power, the world is in a dictatorship.
Werewolfy
History seems to always repeat itself. At the end of WWII, Stalin saw a
niche opportunity to build his Empire and started to grab Eastern Europe.
With Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, America mobilized its military
industrial complex and there was that Dynamic Deadlock that resulted in 30
years of peace through default. Then, with the collapse of the Soviet
Empire, the U.S. is trying to do exactly what Stalin did, only they are
after the energy rich countries.
The Russians have been remarkably quiet about U.S. hegemony. Are they now
in fact the "Sleeping Tiger" that America once was?
cesar
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| User: "Anon Ymous" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
27 Apr 2004 09:14:02 AM |
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"cesar" <cesar@no.email> wrote in message news:<P2fjc.286367$2oI1.40892@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com>...
"Werewolfy" <RickyColeclough@aol.com> wrote in message
news:85ebfda0.0404261309.66ebbe87@posting.google.com...
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040426055532.05832.00000058@mb-m03.aol.com...
============================================================================
====
I'm not at all convinced that the headline is true.
I fancy that the US revels still in Russian woes. Considering the
upheaval and change within Russia, and the poverty and misery
widespread, well, I doubt that the US should have many concerns about
Russians wandering Moscow streets, 'revelling' in US woes.
It's collapse as a military counter-balance has freed the world of
those two 'super-powers' acting...injudiciously...and destroying the
planet.
Sadly, with but the one 'super-power, the world is in a dictatorship.
Werewolfy
History seems to always repeat itself. At the end of WWII, Stalin saw a
niche opportunity to build his Empire and started to grab Eastern Europe.
With Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, America mobilized its military
industrial complex and there was that Dynamic Deadlock that resulted in 30
years of peace through default. Then, with the collapse of the Soviet
Empire, the U.S. is trying to do exactly what Stalin did, only they are
after the energy rich countries.
The Russians have been remarkably quiet about U.S. hegemony. Are they now
in fact the "Sleeping Tiger" that America once was?
Uhh...sleeping giant (the U.S.)....paper tiger (nuclear weapons)...
S~
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| User: "Anon Ymous" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
27 Apr 2004 09:26:36 AM |
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"cesar" <cesar@no.email> wrote in message news:<P2fjc.286367$2oI1.40892@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com>...
"Werewolfy" <RickyColeclough@aol.com> wrote in message
news:85ebfda0.0404261309.66ebbe87@posting.google.com...
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040426055532.05832.00000058@mb-m03.aol.com...
============================================================================
====
I'm not at all convinced that the headline is true.
I fancy that the US revels still in Russian woes. Considering the
upheaval and change within Russia, and the poverty and misery
widespread, well, I doubt that the US should have many concerns about
Russians wandering Moscow streets, 'revelling' in US woes.
It's collapse as a military counter-balance has freed the world of
those two 'super-powers' acting...injudiciously...and destroying the
planet.
Sadly, with but the one 'super-power, the world is in a dictatorship.
Werewolfy
Then, with the collapse of the Soviet
Empire, the U.S. is trying to do exactly what Stalin did, only they are
after the energy rich countries.
Stalin built a buffer zone against what he considered to be evil
capitalist powers which he was convinced would try to attack the
Soviet Union. The U.S. has rooted out two powers, one the harboring
nation of 9/11 terrorists, and the other, a thorn in the side of the
U.S., U.N, and world peace for the last 14 years or so. Once things
settle down, you'll see a withdraw of U.S. troops like you have from
Germany and Japan (and the sooner the better as far as myself and most
of the U.S. public is concerned)--not totalitarian occupation like you
saw from the Soviets. Far cry from "exactly" what Stalin did.
S~
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| User: "Zak" |
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| Title: Re: Russia revels in US woes |
24 Apr 2004 10:28:32 AM |
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On 24 Apr 2004 11:54:00 GMT, (TonyZ2001) wrote:
Why?
The Islamists seek their destruction as well, Russia should wise up and join us
in this fight against barbarians.
Tony
No they are trying to stop terrorism, not incite it like your American
lizzard president is doing.
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