According to a report from CNN, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has endorsed President Bush's re-election. Call me crazy, but I read this story and I didn't get a specific statement by Mr. Putin saying "vote for Bush". Yet, the tagline is, "Putin urges voters to back Bush".

Mr. Putin does, however, say that the recent spate of attacks in Iraq are not so much aimed at the coalition forces there, but rather are aimed at causing political damage to the re-election of President Bush. Interestingly enough, Mr. Putin said that this was understood by "any unbiased observer". Geez. when the Kremlin's doing fairness doctrine and talking about unbiased analysis, you know something's out of whack.

Speaking at the Central Asian Cooperation Organization, Mr. Putin went on to say that, "If [terror groups] succeed in [defeating President Bush] , they will celebrate a victory over America and over the entire anti-terror coalition." He also predicted that such an outcome could theoretically lead to a broader range of terror attacks on new fronts.

However, all isn't sunshine between George and Vlad; Putin also noted that Russian views on Iraq differ from that of the President.

Well, for what it's worth, I don't care that views differ. That is, to my opinion, irrelevant. I'm also unconcerned that the Russians were dealing under the table with Saddam Hussein. Big deal; the more important issue is to keep them more or less on our side. And big deal if Putin decides to bring the hurt in Chechnya in retaliation for Beslan, although I am curious as to how much tougher the Russians could actually be. Isn't there an upward limit to how many troops, how many stricter policies and the like, can be brought forward? Of course I'm not on the ground over there, but when you've got an existing policy of "kill 'em all", I don't know how much more one can ratchet it up.

Meanwhile, I think a brutal Russian effort serves our purposes. Since I am unencumbered by the baggage of wanting to democratize the Middle East or to teach them peace, love, tolerance, and a lot of other rot, I can sit back and think about varied applications of force. This means that there's a place for Russia in my ideal anti-terror policy. What place is that, you ask? The place of "bad---or worse---cop".

However, that's another post for another day.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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