The Empire Strikes Back

Friends,
Putin is intent on bring Russia back to superpower status. With bumbling Bush focused on Iraq and Afganhastan and assured of Putin's soul, the Russian turned the tables. Poland is next. Bush is making hollow promises to both Georgia and Poland. Both countries are going to feel the "sole of Putin" on their backs. This shows just how clueless Bush and Cheney are. They are fucking fools.
Peace and Love,
Rev O

Pootie-Poot Comes Home to Roost White House Watch, Washington Post

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush is guiding U.S. relations with Russia in a decidedly confrontational direction, evoking memories of Cold War bitterness."

"But there was a big problem underlying the basic strategy: Bush's assumption that a weak, debt-ridden, post-Soviet Russia would seek to become more Western, and thus would share U.S. strategic interests, Bugajski said. The president also was distracted by Iraq and Afghanistan."

"Russia, meanwhile, was operating on a very different view. Becoming ever richer off energy revenues, it worked to take advantage of what it sees as a declining America, to split the U.S. from traditional allies such as France and Germany, and to reassert its global role."

"Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said, "My view is that the Russians -- and I would say principally Prime Minister Putin -- is interested in reasserting Russia's, not only Russia's great power or superpower status, but in reasserting Russia's traditional spheres of influence,' he said. 'My guess is that everyone is going to be looking at Russia through a different set of lenses as we look ahead.' . . ."
"The unspoken new danger is that a cooling relationship could cost the administration any hope of working closely with Russia on some of its topmost priorities, like controlling nuclear proliferation, countering terrorism or resolving the problems of the Middle East."

"Nancy A. Youssef, Tom Lasseter and Dave Montgomery write for McClatchy Newspapers: "American officials on Thursday ended speculation that the U.S. military might come to the rescue of Georgia's beleaguered government, confirming Russia's virtual takeover of the former Soviet republic and heralding Moscow's reemergence as the dominant power in eastern Europe. . . . "

"'The empire strikes back,' said Ariel Cohen, a Russia expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C."

The Polish Provocation
"Bush's claim that the proposed European missile defense program is not directed at Russia was dubious to start with. But yesterday's decision to seal a deal with Poland by throwing in a fully-manned Patriot missile battery directly pointed at Russia makes it a pretty blatant act of provocation."

The Associated Press reports this morning: "An agreement that will allow the United States to install a missile defense battery in Poland exposes the ex-communist nation to an attack, a Russian general said Friday. . . .
"Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian general staff told reporters Friday that the agreement exacerbates U.S.-Russian relations that are already tense because of fighting between Georgian and Russian forces. He said the deal 'cannot go unpunished.'
"And in the strongest threat Russia has issued in reaction to plans to put elements of a missile defense system in former Soviet satellite nations, the Interfax news agency quoted Nogovitsyn as saying Poland was risking attack.
"'Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike -- 100 percent,' Interfax quoted Nogovitsyn as saying."

Opinion Watch
"Joseph L. Galloway writes in his McClatchy Newspapers opinion column: "Only someone with a tenuous grasp on reality and a poor knowledge of history and the world could have looked into the flinty eyes of a onetime colonel in the Soviet KGB and 'found him very straightforward and trustworthy.'
Galloway concludes: "If there's any silver lining to these dark clouds, it might be that Bush and Cheney will be so preoccupied grumbling at Bush's buddy Vladimir and issuing empty threats that they won't have time to issue other threats or take some irrational action against the Iranians."

Pootie-Poot Comes Home to Roost Washington Post, Dan Froomkin