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June 18, 2007 at 13:30:01     Permalink [silences] Vladimir Putin Was Making Child's Play of him. Diary Entry by Auveline Robinson (about the author)

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Putin outsmarts Bush on first try. Instead of agreeing to a missle defense system in Polan and the Czech Repulic, Putin countered with an offer for a radar site in Azerbaijan to be jointly operated by the United States and Russia.

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Bush's proposal to put tracking stations for a missile defense system in
Poland and the Czech Republic gave Putin his opening. In response, he
offered a radar site in Azerbaijan to be jointly operated by the United
States and Russia. Bush had deployed the wrong tactic on behalf of the
wrong strategy. Bush's missile shield has not been proved to work, has
cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and has an uncertain purpose. Is
the plan meant to reassure eastern European nations of the former Warsaw
Pact, Donald Rumsfeld's "new Europe," against Russia, or is it a short-
term ploy to rally support in the one region in the world that still
likes Bush because of deep residual pro-Americanism? If Bush intended to
persuade Putin to temper his authoritarianism, he only succeeded in
antagonizing the Russian leader. As Bush's "freedom" agenda has
collapsed, he has reverted to a Plan B for a new ersatz Cold War. His
ham-handed move allowed the adroit Putin to change the subject and
corner him. Meanwhile, the engagement of Russia in areas of mutual
interest -- containing Iran -- languishes.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/06/14/bush_foreign_policy/pr
int.html

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I am 73 years old and retired. I graduated from North Texas State College, now North Texas State University, in Denton, Texas in 1959. I taught school for 10 years, worked for 3 years as Assistant County Auditor in Nacogdoches, Texas; and then (more...)
 

 

 
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