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Cheney Issues Warning to Russia
CERNOBBIO, Italy — Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday denounced Russia’s war against Georgia as evidence of a pattern of “troublesome and unhelpful actions” that threatened peace from Central Asia to the Middle East to Europe.
Mr. Cheney, speaking at an international conference here beside Lake Como, said that Russia now faced a choice between cooperation and isolation, and he urged European nations to join the United States in unambiguously supporting Georgia, Ukraine and other new democracies in Russia’s shadow.
“Does Russia really want to separate itself from the community of values that has fueled so much of its own economic progress?” Mr. Cheney asked an annual gathering of political leaders and business executives organized by the European House-Ambrosetti, a private consultancy. “Does the Russian government really wish to operate in the modern world as an outsider, alienating free countries and trying to rally the world’s dictatorships?”
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Not understanding irony is no stopper to the true hubris professional.
How does the 2nd in command of an administration that has its own pattern of “troublesome and unhelpful actions” that threatened peace from Central Asia to the Middle East to Europe, condemn Russia and Vladimir Putin for a pattern of “troublesome and unhelpful actions” that threatened peace from Central Asia to the Middle East to Europe?
One of the definitions of irony is: incongruity between what actually happens and what might be expected to happen, especially when this disparity seems absurd or laughable.
Dick Cheney wasn't being ironic, he was merely being absurd or laughable. The piece in the NYTimes doesn't say whether or not the statement got a big laugh at Lake Como. Those rascally Italians probably got it though and knew they were about to witness history in the making.
“Does Russia really want to separate itself from the community of values that has fueled so much of its own economic progress?”
Not often anyone goes two-for-two at an international forum. Cheney is a man to watch.
Will he . . . ? Can he . . . ?
“Does Russia really want to separate itself from the community of values that has fueled so much of its own economic progress?”
YES!!! HE'S DONE IT!!! A hat-trick. The man is unparalleled when it comes to sheer audacity, fearless in the face of linguistic impossibility, an absolute gold medal winner in the category of calling kettles.
Irony may never recover. It's currently sunk to its knees in the net and head down, watches helplessly as the final buzzer sounds. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a performance witnessed by few in the history of diplomacy . . . a true tour de force by an American and the world can but watch in awe.
* For more in-depth articles by Jim on Conservative Politics, check out Opinion-Columns.com
