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February 18, 2007

Very Different Realities

Sometimes when you read the foreign press, it can make you feel like you're living in the Twilight Zone. Would you ever see a headline like this in an American newspaper?

Thank Goodness for Putin! "All he wants is to rescue the Iraqi people from U.S. aggression and save the Palestinians from Israeli occupation."

In light of current discussions here at PK, this article is especially interesting. Who would have thought that Russia would be viewed by anyone in the world as more democratic and beneficent than the U.S. (in fact, evidence indicates that democracy in Russia is declining, while the country is becoming more autocratic)? I don't believe that Putin or Russia are all sweetness and light. The real goal is probably access to energy to continue Russia's economic growth. But the very fact that Putin is able to generate such op-eds should tell us that there are things the rest of the world knows about the behavior of the U.S. that our own citizens do not.

If this Chinese commentator is confused by our Mid-East policies, imagine how confused most of the American people would be if they read what the rest of the world was saying about us.

Posted by Becky at February 18, 2007 01:10 PM