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May 10, 2006

Don't look now, but the King is stark naked

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded today to Vice President Cheney's criticism of Russia. Which was not unexpected. But he made a statement which exposes a fundamental flaw in President Bush's foreign policy and which I think is critically important.

Putin was making his 7th State of the Union address since taking power in Russia. Most of it focused on military spending and his reasons why it's important for Russia to have a strong military. He spoke about foreign aggression without specifically naming the United States, but it was clear that's who he was referring to.

"We must always be ready to counter any attempts to pressure Russia in order to strengthen positions at our expense," Putin said. "The stronger our military is, the less temptation there will be to exert such pressure on us."

That last line is key. Every nation around the world knows that the way to gain barganing power with the United States is to have a strong military. The stronger their military, the less temptation there will be to exert pressure on them by the United States.

BushCo spends a lot of time talking about peace around the world. But, it's just talk, as Putin so bluntly exposed in his speech. When Bush talks about wanting to prevent this nation or that nation from having nukes but also pushes programs to create "bunker buster" nukes for our military, or talks about using such nukes on a "tactical" basis in Iran to stop their alleged nuke program, it's a dynamic which has inevitable consequences. It simply adds more incentive for other nations to acquire nuclear weapons by whatever means available.

Posted by Kevin at May 10, 2006 07:52 AM

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