Putin Makes it Official | Russia Wants Allies to Fight U.S. Global Imperialism

Last Wednesday (February 7th 2007)
I took a flippant, and one might even suggest ’sarcastic’ tone as I
attempted compare and contrast the full-blown bravado of the prior year
‘Munich Conference on Security Policy‘ to that of the upcoming annual event.

Despite my furious attempts to exaggerate or emphasize some of the more
preposterous statements made by various worldly leaders and officials
at conferences gone by … I could not have possibly predicted the rancid
stench of hypocrisy from this year’s conference numero uno - Russian
President Vladimir Putin.

As Putin’s official Presidential term of office nears its conclusion
- with elections set for March of 2008 - it appears the pressures of
diplomatic double-speak and the shackles of friendly innuendo have been
released. President Putin took the relaxed - almost unofficial - mood
of the Munich conference to lay a verbal volley of criticisms directly
at the ‘hegemonic’ United States and its aspirations for ‘global
domination.’

You could also imagine the audience’s rapture when his speech opened with:

“This conference’s structure allows me to avoid excessive politeness and the need to speak in roundabout, pleasant but empty diplomatic terms.
This conference’s format will allow me to say what I really think about
international security problems. And if my comments seem unduly
polemical, pointed or inexact to our colleagues, then I would ask you
not to get angry with me. After all, this is only a conference.”

The audience included the U.S. Secretary of Defense - Robert Gates -
and you could imagine him quietly whispering in his aide’s ear - ‘Jesus
Christ! Juice my speech up so I can retaliate against this Soviet
S.o.B.’





Putin invoked a speech by former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt at the start of World War II, “[He said] when peace has been broken anywhere, the peace of all countries everywhere is in danger.”

This is highly amusing because the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact allowed for Germany to waltz into Poland and kick off the Second World War with impunity.

Putin begins his assault on perceived U.S. global domination:

The history of humanity certainly has gone through unipolar periods and seen aspirations to world supremacy.

What is a unipolar world? However one might embellish this term, at
the end of the day it refers to one type of situation, namely one
centre of authority, one centre of force, one centre of decision-making.

It is world in which there is one master, one sovereign. And at the
end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those within this
system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself
from within.

And this certainly has nothing in common with democracy. Because, as
you know, democracy is the power of the majority in light of the
interests and opinions of the minority.

Incidentally, Russia – we – are constantly being taught
about democracy. But for some reason those who teach us do not want to
learn themselves.

I consider that the unipolar model is not only unacceptable but also impossible in today’s world.

The jabs become upper-blocks:

Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use
of force – military force – in international relations, force that is
plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts.

We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles
of international law. And independent legal norms are, as a matter of
fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state
and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped
its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic,
political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other
nations. Well, who likes this? Who is happy about this?

So, is Putin unhappy with the bright neon glow from the fifty foot
McDonald’s sign in Red Square? or the Starbucks in the lobby of Lenin’s
Tomb?

The force’s dominance inevitably encourages a number of
countries to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Moreover,
significantly new threats – though they were also well-known before –
have appeared, and today threats such as terrorism have taken on a
global character.

I am convinced that we have reached that decisive moment when we must seriously think about the architecture of global security.

Putin then mentions a phrase - “BRIC - Brazil Russian India &
China” - that we’ll begin to hear a lot more of in coming months. BRIC
refers to the growing economic - and hence political - clout of these
emerging economic giants - with whom Putin obviously intends to foster
greater political leadership and clarity.

The combined GDP measured in purchasing power parity of
countries such as India and China is already greater than that of the
United States. And a similar calculation with the GDP of the BRIC
countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – surpasses the cumulative
GDP of the EU. And according to experts this gap will only increase in
the future.

There is no reason to doubt that the economic potential of the new
centres of global economic growth will inevitably be converted into
political influence and will strengthen multipolarity.

Putin’s eyes become glazed and his words yield a soft romantic edge
when he reminisces about his former Soviet Union - of which, we must
not forget, he constructed quite a successful KGB career. When he
discusses the transformation (or disintegration!) from Soviet Union to
‘democratic state’ - surely there must have been a few snickers in the
audience of distinguished leaders.

Did not our country have a peaceful transition to
democracy? Indeed, we witnessed a peaceful transformation of the Soviet
regime – a peaceful transformation! And what a regime! With what a
number of weapons, including nuclear weapons! Why should we start
bombing and shooting now at every available opportunity? Is it the case
when without the threat of mutual destruction we do not have enough
political culture, respect for democratic values and for the law?

Perhaps Putin’s historical perspectives have been as skewed as his
definition of democracy. The Kremlin leadership of the Soviet Union -
with the world’s biggest nuclear arsenal - was far from comfortable
with a ’smooth’ disintegration of the Soviet empire. At one point the ‘August Coup‘
in which hard-line communists within Kremlin walls tried to wrestle
power from the reformist Mikhail Gorbachev was but for the grace of God
… nearly successful. Imagine the former-Soviet and highly nationalist
states fighting an insurgent battle with a renewed Soviet leadership?
Cataclysmic?

Lest we also forget the Russian Constitutional Crisis of 1993
when President Yeltsin almost lost his grip on power when the Russian
Congress tried to wrestle control of the almost dismantled remains of
the Soviet empire and Yeltsin’s drunken grip on power was via the
deployment of tanks and the storming of the Russian parliament building.

So no, I think a ‘peaceful transition’ to democracy is a slightly
rosy view of a potential disastrous episode in history for Russia and
the world. Of course there are many observers of Russia’s current
‘democracy’ that will argue what democratic rights were ensued to
Russian citizens in the 1990’s were rolled back and reversed in great
measure by President Putin. Read La Russophobe for a fascinating folder of evidence to support this notion.

After Putin’s renewed attack on NATO expansion in the former Soviet
Bloc - with a multitude of nations fleeing memories of Soviet
aggression by joining the protective umbrella of NATO membership - he
pitched one last accusation at the U.S. and its anti-ballistic missile
system (formerly known as ‘Star Wars’ in days of olde) and then
concluded succinctly but with great emphasis:

In conclusion I would like to note the following. We
very often – and personally, I very often – hear appeals by our
partners, including our European partners, to the effect that Russia
should play an increasingly active role in world affairs.

In connection with this I would allow myself to make one small
remark. It is hardly necessary to incite us to do so. Russia is a
country with a history that spans more than a thousand years and has
practically always used the privilege to carry out an independent
foreign policy.

We are not going to change this tradition today. At the same time,
we are well aware of how the world has changed and we have a realistic
sense of our own opportunities and potential. And of course we would
like to interact with responsible and independent partners with whom we
could work together in constructing a fair and democratic world order
that would ensure security and prosperity not only for a select few,
but for all.

Thank you for your attention.

I think if President Putin had ended with ‘You’ve been warned!’ the audience might have received the same chilly message.

Putin has made it official. Russia wants allies to fight U.S. global imperialism.