Return of the Evil Empire
Filed under: Russia
In what must surely be viewed as one of the most outrageous policy actions taken in Russia's sordid history, the Kremlin has responded to Britain's expulsion of four Russian diplomats from London not by merely expelling four British diplomats from Moscow but by refusing to cooperate on counter-terrorism activities. This means that Russia is willing to sacrifice not only innocent British citizens to become victims of preventable acts of terrorism, but innocent Russian citizens as well. "To our regret, cooperation between Russia and Britain on issues of fighting terrorism becomes impossible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said, giving no explanation whatsoever as to how the two issues are related. Russia even went so far as to menace British airspace with strategic bombers. In a childish, petulant and utterly irresponsible way, Russia is cutting its own citizens off from information about terrorism not only from Britain's vaunted intelligence services but also, inevitably, from the USA, EU and NATO as well. Yesterday the EU rallied to Britain's defense, and today U.S. Secretary of State Condi Rice did the same. How is this possible in the land of Beslan and Dubrovka? How is it possible that a country with a sub-60 adult male lifespan and a $3/hour minimum wage, with a per capita GDP rivaled by third-world states, can imagine it is positioned to provoke the entire world? It's possible because the Kremlin, drunk with hatred and blind with ambition and greed, has always been willing to sacrifice its own citizens for policy goals that include imperialism and subjugation.
In other words, it's the Evil Empire all over again. Neo-Soviet Russia is finally laid bare, in all its horror, for the world to gape at.
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