NationStates Jolt Archive

Putin Takes Bush's Side Against Democrats on Iraq



SEA ISLAND, Ga (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped into the U.S. political campaign on Thursday, saying the Democrats had "no moral right" to criticize President Bush over Iraq.



The Kremlin leader, answering a reporter's question in Sea Island, Georgia, suggested that the Democrats were two-faced in criticizing Bush on Iraq since it had been the Clinton administration that authorized the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia by U.S. and NATO forces.


The reporter had asked Putin to respond to U.S. press articles questioning Russia's place at the G8 feast of leading industrial countries.


Putin brushed these off, saying such articles were part of an internal U.S. political debate.


He went on: "I am deeply convinced that President Bush's political adversaries have no moral right to attack him over Iraq because they did exactly the same.


"It suffices to recall Yugoslavia. Now look at them. They don't like what President Bush is doing in Iraq."


Russia was adamantly opposed to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, as it has been to the U.S.-led military operation Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein.


At the same time, Putin forged a strong friendship with Bush by offering immediate support in the global fight against terrorism. Both men go out of their way now to avoid criticizing each other publicly.




http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=2&u=/nm/campaign_putin_dc

Lookie there -- (CIA) Bush and (KGB) Putin are holding hands! Isn't it great how Bush and Putin met together in Crawford right after 9/11 to nullify the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty... and now they're in agreement on the war too! Isn't it a good thing that the CIA and KGB are boosting the arms race and destroying civil liberties by using the terrorist they created as a convenient excuse?

Lookie there -- (CIA) Bush and (KGB) Putin are holding hands! Isn't it great how Bush and Putin met together in Crawford right after 9/11 to nullify the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty... and now they're in agreement on the war too! Isn't it a good thing that the CIA and KGB are boosting the arms race and destroying civil liberties by using the terrorist they created as a convenient excuse?


The KGB is gone, Putin is still against the war and what arms race?

Lookie there -- (CIA) Bush and (KGB) Putin are holding hands! Isn't it great how Bush and Putin met together in Crawford right after 9/11 to nullify the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty... and now they're in agreement on the war too! Isn't it a good thing that the CIA and KGB are boosting the arms race and destroying civil liberties by using the terrorist they created as a convenient excuse?


The KGB is gone,
I'm sorry --- is Putin a figment of my imagination, or did somebody else rig Russia's last election?

Putin is still against the war
what war? The Iraq War is over, just ask Bush...

what arms race? Star Wars, production of Deep Earth penetration warheads -- what, did you think that would go through the trouble of shreading the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty for nothing?

Yeah, I think Putin was probably just trying to give Bush a show of support. Putin and Russia were against the war in Iraq, that's why they didn't help 'at all'

And of course Putin has no agenda of his own..... like perhaps a vote of support for Bush in return for "please don't bring up Chechnya!"



How the world has changed where we are now taking the word of the leader of Russia to back a US President's position...


Incidentally, anyone else notice the hypocricy here? Russia has not supported the Iraq war. Putin was very vocal about that fact along with France and Germany leading up to the start of this thing.

But here he is basically saying that HE has a right to be critical of US foreign policy (because he certainly was critical).... but members of the American opposition party DON'T have that same right?


Gimme freakin' break!

And Vlad? Get your nose out of GW's pants.

-Z-

Putin is nothing more then a two bit thug who wants to become a dictator of Russia.

with a name like Putin... ahhh never mind. :lol:

Putin is not exactly the type of character that you want to brag about being on your side. But then again, Bush seems to have a special relationship with him....remember that he "looked into his soul." :roll:

I guess now that Bush and Putin are united with the "war on terror" that means Putin gets to do whatever he likes in Chechnya and anyone who condemns him for this is either an "appeaser" a "weak liberal" or someone who is defending the terrorists.

you're either with us or against us

you're either with us or against us

Well then, that settles it.

Putin is not exactly the type of character that you want to brag about being on your side. But then again, Bush seems to have a special relationship with him....remember that he "looked into his soul." :roll:

Is this a veiled reference to the rumors of Bush's bisexuality? Are you suggesting that our born-again Christian president and Putin were *ahem* "reading Bible verses* to each other to help warm up those long and cold Russian nights?

Cause, if it is,

that makes me giggle.

you're either with us or against us


And exactly which one of those is Putin again?

Not everything is a conspiracy theory, y'know.

Of course, since Bush is involved, you don't care to hear that :roll:

Not everything is a conspiracy theory, y'know.

Of course, since Bush is involved, you don't care to hear that :roll:


Ummm, there is a BIG diference between a "conspiracy" and a little political quid pro quo.

But my main issue is that the guy is a f*cking hypocrite thinking that HE is allowed to be critical of US foreign policy regarding Iraq, but that Americans (and specifically Democrats) are not. Throwing the term "moral" into his little opinion is also an unneccessarily personal jab in that is an backhanded attempt to impugn the character of Joh Kerry and other ranking democrats and as such serves the Bush campaign quite nicely.

The only basis he puts forward for his argument is that the Democrats were in power when they went into the Balkans. The inference being that these two wars are equivalent, or that if you support one war then you must support all wars.

But they aren't equivalent, and people are certainly allowed to have opinions on a case by case basis.

In Yugoslavia the Us and NATO went in to stop an ongoing civil war that was actively being fought, actively devolving into genocide, and that represented a clear and present danger to the stability of neighbouring countries.

In Iraq, there was no ongoing war, no ongoing threat, and the US went in as a pre-emptive mission on the suspicion that Saddam might be in violation of UN resolutions reagarding possession of WMD.

How the hell can anyone point to those two actions and attempt to equate them to each other?

It's a little like saying "hey, you supported WWII - so shut the hell up about Vietnam!"


Meanwhile, has anyone heard anyone say anything much about Chechnya at this summit?


That is one of the things I hate about these meetings. no matter what deals are struck behind the closed doors, when it comes to "meet the press" time they all wind up patting each other on the back and doing little political favours amongst themselves because each and every one of them wants to get re-elected.


Not a consipracy. Just cheap, self-serving politics.

Putin just finally realizes it's time to help Bush out for some reason or other, which I'm sure we'll all find out and be angry about at some point.

Lookie there -- (CIA) Bush and (KGB) Putin are holding hands!<buzzer>Sorry, you picked the wrong Bush there. Not that something like a FACT ever stopped you guys from the Left, but c'mon!

Isn't it great how Bush and Putin met together in Crawford right after 9/11 to nullify the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty...You mean the treaty that the United States signed with a nation that no longer exists? I believe that's also one of many international treaties and accords the North Koreans (among others) refuse to abide by, making it already null and void in practice. Nullifying the treaty simply allowed both countries (but especially the US,) to protect themselves, not necessarily from each other, but from those who haven't been signatories to treaties such as INF, SALT I and II, START, etc. But it could just be that you haven't noticed the Lybians, North Koreans and Chinese testing ICBMs, and selling such technology to the highest bidder.

...and now they're in agreement on the war too!I agree...it is amazing the things that the Islamo-fascist terrorists have made happen with their idiotic jihad. Who would have thought, 30 years ago, that the USSR...oh, wait, the USSR doesn't exist, "who woulda thunk that!"...make that Russia, and the US would actively cooperate on anything. And yet, the War on Terror is yet one more thing the 2 nations cooperate on (you might have heard of the International Space Station.) And all, thanks to the vision of one Ronald W. Reagan...you might have heard of him.

Isn't it a good thing that the CIA and KGB are boosting the arms race and destroying civil liberties by using the terrorist they created as a convenient excuse?That would actually require that the KGB exist...if I recall correctly, the USSR ceased to exist on December 25th, 1991, taking the KGB and the failed socio-politico-economic experiment called "communism" with it into the ash-heap of history.

Putin just finally realizes it's time to help Bush out for some reason or other, which I'm sure we'll all find out and be angry about at some point.Not only that, but I am sure Jean Francois Kerry will then declare that such a help from Russia is "an outrage to all Americans," just like the price of gas going down is an outrage. :roll:

I don't think having an autocratic, anti-democratic, former KGB, soviet-style leader of Russia vouch for you is the best endorsement one could wish for. But then again, this is Bush we're talking about here--maybe anti-democratic, autocratic and Soviet-style is his dream for the US.

It certainly seems to be be that way as far as his Justice Department is concerned.

you're either with us or against us

Gosh, I wish I had such a simple world view.

I've got to go, there's someone at the door...oooh I wonder if it'll be my friend or my enemy.

Putin....we have had one caricature after the other since Stalin.....our poor Russian land bleeds from deep wounds...the deep gashes of idiocy...do not judge us. We are pathetic.


No really...we are. And that fact that Putin won the 'elections' signifies that we are so LOST and confused'


Also they are about to start electing presidents to 10 year terms in Russia!

rah rah! Russia 4eva. Land that I love..