Putin Comments on Bush: “Running Around Like a Madman with a Razor Blade”
October 26th, 2007This comment might be a bit of a tipoff into strategic thinking inside Russia. Mainly, that Bush is nuts.
Stark raving, speaking in tongues, doolally nuts. (Los Angeles Times: Straitjacket Bush: The President’s Warmongering Remarks on the Iranian Threat Suggest He Is Psychotic)
Seriously. International Relations assumes “rational actors.” Putin’s comment could mean that the Russians see Bush as fully nuts and expect him to lash out in an irrational manner. That’s not rocket science, obviously, but considering the military implications is a chilling exercise.
Via: Yahoo:
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned strongly against new international sanctions on Iran, saying they would lead to a dead end.
Putin, in Portugal for a summit with leaders of the European Union, said the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program should be resolved through talks, pointing at North Korea as an example.
“Why worsen the situation and bring it to a dead end by threatening sanctions or military action,” Putin said in a veiled reference to the U.S. push for harsher international sanctions against Tehran.
“Running around like a madman with a razor blade, waving it around, is not the best way to resolve the situation,” the Russian leader said.
Putin spoke after the Bush administration imposed sweeping new sanctions against Iran, cutting off key Iranian military and banking institutions from the American financial system for Tehran’s alleged support for terrorism and nuclear weapons ambitions. Putin did not directly refer to the U.S. actions.
The irrationality may be rational. From a 1995 document released under the FOIA entitled “Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence”:
“Because of the value that comes from the ambiguity of what the US may do to an adversary if the acts we seek to deter are carried out, it hurts to portray ourselves as too fully rational and cool-headed. The fact that some elements may appear to be potentially “out of control” can be beneficial to creating and reinforcing fears and doubts thin the minds of an adversary’s decision makers. ‘This essential sense of fear is the working force of deterrence. That the US may become irrational and vindictive if its vital interests are attacked should be part of the national persona we project to all adversaries.
US foreign policy has clearly been remade to mirror that of Israel. Both countries are now universally hated and feared because of it.
The Bush Administration’s policies only look irrational if you believe that their true goals are the ones they’ve stated — to get them to halt nuclear enrichment programs, etc. In that regard, partnering with Israel, whose goals probably really are along those lines, is very convenient.
However, the true goals are almost certainly more along the lines of what’s happening in Iraq — to put control of the vast Iranian oil fields into the hands of the multinational oil companies. It also looks like getting indirect control of China is high on their priority list. China imports a large fraction of its oil from Iran. They have recently threatened the “nuclear option” of dumping their vast US dollar holdings onto the market. Getting control over most of China’s oil imports would certainly give the US a lot of leverage in preventing the sudden trashing of the dollar (the Federal Reserve prefers a slow trashing of the dollar, presumably so the US public won’t notice what’s happening until it’s too late).
Listen, I don’t want to rain on anybodies parade, but, supposedly, coming from a certifiable lunatic paedophile himself, why is anybody getting worked up?
Putin is just as fucking crazy as the rest of the nutters that seem to occupy the highest positions with the greatest power.
Every single one of them is a text book case of one flavour of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). APD replaces those golden oldies psychopath, sociopath, narcissist, etc. There doesn’t seem to be a single leader out there (Dali Lama, maybe?) that doesn’t suffer from a significantly high degree of APD. So, why are we so bothered and/or disappointed and/or surprised when these lunatic asylum cases fuck things up beyond measure?
Essentially, the only way out, and I mean the only way out, is to do a Kevin. Fuck off to some backwater shit hole, make a few friends, bag a few acres, get a willing partner, and carry on with as little interaction as necessary with the “outside†world.
Kev, I envy you. A partner that shares your vision. A place to go far enough away from the real crazies, in a hemisphere that just might fare far, far better then the one I’m in, and an ever increasing degree of self-sufficiency. I’ve only got one word to say to you, using that tried and true British expression, bastard.