There's a very revealing video of Russian ex-President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin's response to a question about terrorism at a G-8 summit press conference back in in early 2008 that has surfaced. Putin apparently has very different ideas about dealing with Islamist terrorism than the current occupant of the White House.
Here's the transcript:
FRENCH JOURNALIST: ...Don't you think that by trying to eradicate terrorism in Chechnya you are going to eradicate the civilian population of Chechnya?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: If you want to become an Islamic fundamentalist and be circumcised, come to Moscow. We are multiconfessional. We have very good specialists. I can recommend one for the operation. He'll make sure nothing grows back.
As you'll see on the video, Putin was deadly serious. Just a tad different from the dry, luke warm response of Barack Obama after the Christmas bombing, I think.
The only thing Vlad missed out on was the pigskin burial afterwards, but credit where credit is due.
I can only imagine how badly Putin punks Obama when it comes to face-to-face negotiations.
Hat Tip, Newsbusters.
When I look at Vladimir Putin and his record, I have very mixed feelings.
ReplyDeleteThis is very likely the smartest man living on earth today. He may well be the smartest person to come on the human scene in the past thousand years or so. As such, he is way ahead of any potential adversary Russia may have. He also unapologetically pro Russian and will stop at nothing to defend the country's interest. This may be because he and his closest allies essentially own Russia. As such, his interests and Russian interests closely coincide. This is a man that Russians should feel very confident to have leading them. In some ways, I wish we had someone like him to lead America!! The "some ways" is very important.
Now for the bad. This man is strongly suspected to have killed people he does not liked rbitrarily. Political disension seems to be very dangerous in Russia.
Mr. Putin and the Russian leadership seem to view Russian interests as extending beyond Russia into the whole world. Mr. Putin commands the most powerful military forces on the planet. This is especially so when one factors in Russian non conventional forces. This is not a problem in and of itself but it beccomes a huge problem because Russia seems to view America as its number one enemy. In other words, the forces of the most powerful military forces on earth are trained on us 24/7 and the media is worried about a puny missle defense system that was going to be placed in Poland!!
These media sources are either very, very stupid or they are agents of the Russians. I suspect it is the latter.
Mr. Putin is extremely hypocritical. Had an American leader made the statements that he made Mr. Putin's toadies would have blasted the American leader who said it as "racist, "imperial," or something worse. Why is this behavior okay for Russia but not for America? Could it be the most powerful country on earth has carved out priveledges for itself that others don't have.
While I pointed out earlier about Mr. Putin's superior abilities relative to other leaders, he is not without weaknesses. He can be defeated. Perhaps his biggest weakness is extreme arrogance. At an early age, he no doubt figured out how far ahead of his peers he is in terms of mental prowess and physical prowess. The more success he has the more arrogant he becomes. This can be used against him.
As an example, this statement about circumscision from Mr. Putin. He and his adversaries have carefully built a narrative about how the Americans are imperialist war mongers who torture people for the fun of it. He probably should have kept his mouth shut. Now an American leader can say the following: "if it is okay for the most powerful nation in the world to do this, it should be okay for us" or something to this effect. Then we could get started on defeating this enemy. A major part of the war effort is information. Putin gave us something we can use, if we are alert enough to capitalize
Russia is not even the number one target of Islamic terrorists!! The number one targets are America and Israel. I wonder what Mr. Putin's response would be if Russia were a major target?!!?
There is some history to that threat.
ReplyDeletePutin is full of shit...he declared the war on terrorists in Chechnya over earlier this year and just like that the jihad amped up in a huge way...
ReplyDeleteremember that train bombing a few weeks ago that killed some senior Russian political figures and finance people...jihad
Putin nor anyone else has done shit and Chechnya and other regions in the area are under attack far more than the U.S. When Dearborn starts the bombing, killing and separatist propaganda then we'll be on par. Not that the US is not a top terror target...right behind Israel
"Putin is full of sh*t." Perhaps you are right, however, I don't think so. Russia has the best intellegence agencies on earth and the best trained and most motivated military forces on the planet. The notion that these people could not stop Jihad dead in its tracks is at best laughable and at worst riseable.
ReplyDeleteHere's what is probably going on. Russia needs an excuse to mobilize its military. the Jihadists provide the perfect opportunity. As such, the Jihadists and the Russian leadership including those in Chechmya are in league together. A few dead Russian officals is just part of Mr. Putin's cost of doing business. It has to look good. The ultimate targets of the Jihadists are America and Israel with a minor quirk. Russia's primary enemy is America. I don't think they are worred about Israel at the moment per say. The primary obsession of the Jihadists is Israel with America a close second.
A deal may be in the works that goes something like this. The Jihadists will assist the Russians against America and the Russians will assist the Jihadists against Israel.
Chechnya is simply a ruse and a good excuse for Russia to mobilize its armed forces. The Russian military and intellegence services could easily squash them should they become a problem. Russia is not being targeted by Jihadists. America is.
Even if Russia was being targeted, Russia has the intellegece capabilities, military capabilities, and economic capabilities to easily defeat the Jihadists. The Americans do not possess the same capabilities. As such, Jihadists pose a far greater threat to America than they do to Russia.
Russian military does not play footsie with their foes. They are ruthless and without mercy. That is why they are not a major target to Jihadists.
ReplyDeleteAt least Putin and the Russians don't let these raghead bullies push them around like this joke of a president we're stuck with now. Obama acts like the stinking muslims are his pals and Americans, (taxpaying, lawabiding Americans in particular) are the enemy!!! In the meantime, Obama claims he's not a muslim. Yet some crazy muslim starts shooting American soldiers at Fort Hood and another muslim tries to blow up an airplane in Detroit and Obama laughs and makes excuses for them while he accuses those of us who are against his dictatorial healthcare scheme of hate crimes!!!
ReplyDeleteIt was in November 2002, not 2009.
ReplyDeleteThe video is dated 2008
ReplyDelete