Putin Takes Bush's Side Against Democrats on Iraq

[Judi Lynn]

Putin Takes Bush's Side Against Democrats on Iraq
Thu Jun 10, 2004 08:41 PM ET

SEA ISLAND, Ga (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped into the U.S. political campaign on Thursday, saying the Democrats had "no moral right" to criticize President Bush over Iraq.
The Kremlin leader, answering a reporter's question in Sea Island, Georgia, suggested that the Democrats were two-faced in criticizing Bush on Iraq since it had been the Clinton administration that authorized the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia by U.S. and NATO forces.

The reporter had asked Putin to respond to U.S. press articles questioning Russia's place at the G8 feast of leading industrial countries.

Putin brushed these off, saying such articles were part of an internal U.S. political debate.
(snip/...)

~~~~ link ~~~~

[shockingelk]

1. Someone explain

How is this "taking Bush's side"? It's not.

Taking Bush's side would entail Russia saying, "We were wrong! We should have supported and taken part in the invasion of Iraq!"

[punpirate]

2. Well, I guess Poppy's trip to visit Putin...

... last year convinced him there was money to be made by supporting the kid.... Russia's gonna get raped by not being paid outstanding debt, and will probably get cut out of any significant oilfield deals, so I suspect Putin was offered, shall we say, something more in the way of personal remuneration for his support.

[0rganism]

3. He calls the Democrats hypocrits because of Yugoslavia

but doesn't appear to have changed his plans for Russian involvment.

How sweet it must be,
Former head of the KGB
To see all things so clear
When you hold them to your ear

[Art_from_Ark]

4. This is coming from a guy

who himself is involved in a costly war against "insurgents".

At any rate, Mr. Putin,
NATO asked Clinton to intervene in Kosovo.
Nobody (besides lying expatriate Iraqis and war profiteers) asked bu$h to invade Iraq.

Clinton did not occupy Kosovo.
bu$h is occupying Iraq.

[EdGy]

10. actually Kosovo is currently occupied

by US and other NATO troops, and has been since 1999.

Unfortunately, Clinton's ignoring international law, his refusal to go the the UN, set the stage for what Bush did in Iraq (though obviously, unlike Bush, he did not go around gratuitously insulting and threatening those countries who disagreed with his policies).

Too bad Democrats' foreign policy isn't so much different than Republicans'

[Justice]

32. The Point is that Putin Wanted to Occupy Kosovo

and Clinton stopped him.

Also, Clinton sees Putin for who he is - coldest hearted person Clinton has ever met.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

29. He must be miffed at Clinton

for beating up his pal Milosevic. Eeeek! :scared:

[dand]

5. Maybe they could start a Fascist men's club

design an arm band, issue brown shirts, they already control news medias in their respective countries, it would be a snap.

[Kolesar]

9. They could start with a non-aggression pact, then partition Poland ... eom

[0007]

12. Ah yes, it could be called the dickhead club for the wealthy

The two leading dickheads in uniform

[dand]

13. seriously, shouldn't,t dickhead be capitalized,

after all these bozos are heads of states.

[TheWizardOfMudd]

6. Thank you, Mr. Putin

Thank you for demonstrating to all Americans that the republicans are more closely aligned with incompetent fucking ex-communist KGB heads than they are with Democrats.

[Josh]

7. I am so sick of people comparing Kosovo and Iraq -

no one INVADED Kosovo and set up a military occupation over the country or appointed its new leaders. (They had real elections in Kosovo and Milosevic's hand-picked successor LOST.)

[demconfive]

8. Putin is still fighting the Cold War.

The "ex"-KGB man is working to destroy the US by making sure Dubya is re-selected!The reason they are so friendly is that Dubya is a Russian mole. Swear to God!The greatest covert-op in history.The reason Bush can hardly speak english is because its a second language.He has to work hard to keep the russian accent in check.

[teryang]

20. Exactly, Bush supports the Chechen rebellion

There is no way Putin wants to see our military contractors junta extricate itself from Iraq while we are being bled white. Our ground forces are being wasted if not destroyed, our treasury is being bankrupted by a corrupt group of corporatists, and the diaster in Iraq is deepening not improving. Meanwhile Putin has the same problems within and without the old Russian Empire, the epicenter of which is Chechnya.

The longer it goes on the weaker our economy and government gets. Our system is drifting dangerously toward dictorship and totalitarianism and is really on the brink of collapse. As long as we persist in our encirclement strategy in Eurasia he prefers to see us dominated by a group of corrupt overconfident incompetents. A self correcting movement, such as the election of Kerry, would result in a reallignment of priorities which might restore and preserve the strength of the Republic for another generation. With the Bushistas it is a guaranteed slippery skid downhill.

[EdGy]

11. when it comes to democracy, Putin and Bush are soul mates

the difference of course is that Putin is very intelligent, that he actually is popular in Russia despite his faults.

Similarities include the brutal way he's fighting in Chechnya, anti-democratic inclinations, etc.

[Justice]

14. No Love Between Putin and Clinton, Because

Clinton had Putin's number - remember, Clinton said Putin had the coldest eyes he had ever seen, or words to that effect.

I should also add, Putin was upset at Clinton going to Yugo. because Putin wanted it for himself/Russia.

[DinahMoeHum]

17. "Clinton had Putin's number" - and Putin is playing Bush for

well, a "bush" :evilgrin:

[Mace]

Russia sold weapons to iraq?

I thought the Russians were the ones who sold thousands/millions of weapons to Saddam's regime?

[Hekate]

15. Well of course he did: remember when W "looked into Putin's soul"?

Back when they first met -- that was W's comment. I thought at the time that was pretty damn revealing: the son of the former Head Spook bonding instantly with the former head of the KGB.

Really creepy.

Great pics, btw.

Hekate

[wicket]

16. Has Vlad forgotten that he said this?

"The question is, where is Saddam Hussein? Where are those weapons of mass destruction, if they were ever in existence? Is Saddam Hussein in a bunker sitting on cases containing weapons of mass destruction, preparing to blow the whole place up?"

-Vladimir Putin in 2003 mocking the lack of WMDs

[HuckleB]

25. Nope, he hasn't.

You know Bush played the Chechnya card to get this public announcement out of Putin. It's as simple as that.

[AspenRose]

18. Mind your own damn business

"Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped into the U.S. political campaign on Thursday, saying the Democrats had "no moral right" to criticize President Bush over Iraq."

If you feel you have the right to tell your citizens what to think and how to feel, that's one thing. But don't come over HERE and tell US what to do. Last time I checked we were still free to have differences of opinion in this country (though that seems to be waning).

Don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out.
:mad:

[yellowcanine]

19. Putin gets his way in Chechnya, Bush gets his way in Iraq - remember how

Stalin and Hitler collaborated to destroy Poland? History repeats.

[David__77]

21. This is NOT "taking Bush's side."

The Russian government condemned the US-led war against Yugoslavia and also the US-led war against Iraq. What Putin is saying is that both US parties are culpable here, he's saying no one's hands are clean. I disagree. Many Democrats opposed BOTH aggressions. I'm one of them.

[TheLastMohican]

22. How come only David_77 got the message?

Putin said it in 1999 and said it today again that Republicans and Democrats behave as if they are two shoes of the same pair.
And to all you russian haters, Bush and Clinton put their noses too much into russian politics and russian internal affairs to now pretend to be virgins with chastity belts on.

[Larkspur]

23. Considering that the Serbs were committing genocide in Kosovo

and Bosnia, the Democrats had acted responsibly in going after the Serbs. Russia has always been closer to the Serbs than to any of ther other ethnic groups in the former Yugoslavia.

When the other European countries failed to respond to Serbs slaughtering Muslims, the US had the moral right to intervene. Our intervention on behalf of the Muslims, I believe, helped improve our image in the Muslim world.

The US didn't need a UN mandate to go after the Serbs because Yugoslavia was considered part of Europe and NATO's sphere of influence.

In contrast, Saddam, while he was a butcher of his own people, he had once been our ally thanks to Reagan and Bush I.

[Calico Jack Rackham]

27. very shortsighted

The ethnic Albanian Kosovars, along with their indigenous UCK thugs and foriegn jihadis pecipittated a conflict with the local Serbian population in Kosovo(which is a part of Serbia). The Serbian military response was in direct provocation of the UCK terrorists and calls for independece in Kosovo and the creation of "Greater Albania", which was comprised of Kosovo, Albania, parts of FYROM and Northern Epirus in Greece.

I'm not going to sit here and claim that the Serbs did not commit war crimes; however, this was not a case of one side being the victim and the other the oppressor.

[HuckleB]

24. Iraq is George's Chechnya, after all.

Especially with the abuses finally revealed. Putin is covering his ass.

[struggle4progress]

26. I thought I saw Vlad and Tony together on TV last year ...

with Vlad sneering hard at the WMD story, to Tony's chagrin. Has Vlad now flip-flopped into Bush's camp?

[tom_paine]

28. Both Evil Dictators and Totalitarian Scum. Soulmates.

Putin, in fact, has borrowed extensively from the bushevik Playbook and used it much more powerfully (because he could due to the youth and weakness of Russian Checks and Balances) to return the Russians to slavery.

"Managed Democracy" the WaPost calls it, when pompously pontificating about the terrible Putin. Of course, it's a riuot, because all you have to do is switch "Putin" with "Bush and EVERYTHING about russian "managed Democracy" can be said about Imperial Amerika's "managed Democracy".

this makes perfect sense.

Comrade Putin and Emperor Bush*, so muh like Hitler and Stalin in their demeanors, relationships, Pravda, and hatred for democracy and the Little Nobodies...

[Qutzupalotl]

30. It's payback

for the CIA luring the Soviet Union into invading Afghanistan. We wanted to give them their own Vietnam.

Guess what? Now we gots another one.

[gulliver]

31. Now there's an ad!

Putin, Jiang Zemin, Musharraf, Khaddafi ... all for Bush. Man, that Bush is sure popular with world leaders!

And of course, let's not forget bin Laden. Bush is the perfect president for jihadists, America haters, and those like Putin and Zemin who want to take our jobs or get at oil money.

[agincourt]

33. Putin wants Bush elected

He can compete much better with Bush than a dem. A few more years of this, and our ecomomy and the russian economy will look the same.

[stickdog]

34. KGB & OSP Sitting in a Tree

L - O - O - T - I - N- G