Diary: [silences] Vladimir Putin Was Making Child's Play of him.

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

Download this as a file