Russia the Responsible, Civilized, Successful Country
Filed under: Russia
Russian "president" Vladimir Putin has complained that Westerners insist on viewing his country as "a little bit savage." Just look at recent events in Russia, and see how very right he is.
Russia is a peaceful, friendly nation. That is why it is firing missiles off the coast of France and shut down the British Council inside Russia. A New York Times editorial stated:
Culture and civil society are places to nurture shared values and interests, and this is especially important during times of diplomatic strain. Closing down the British Council's offices doesn't strengthen Moscow's insistence that it played no role in the Litvinenko assassination, nor does it support its arguments for why it won't turn over Lugovoi. All it does is make Putin and the Kremlin look like bullies -- with something to hide.
Putin is a powerful, confident ruler who respects elections and can be trusted to behave in a civilized, non-savage manner. That is why he had his chief rival Mikhail Khodorkovsky arrested before the last presidential poll, and has announced his intention to do the same to his main opponent this time, former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov. It's also why he is intentionally withholding basic medical treatment to one of Khodorkovsky's incarcerated colleagues, in effect indulging in state-sanctioned torture and murder.
Russians have learned the lessons of the barbaric excesses of the Soviet past. That is why they are reestablishing the parading of missiles and tanks through Red Square on May Day, flocking to honor Lenin in his tomb there. They've certainly realized the perils of Soviet hypocrisy, which is why in so doing they have no problem calling any attempt to expand NATO the "expansion of a cold war relic."
First and foremost, Russia is an economic paradise, a juggernaut poised to dominate the globe. That is why, as stock market analyst James Beadle writes: "The benchmark RTS index has dropped 16 percent since peaking at 2339.79 on Jan. 14. This sudden loss of around $160 billion in market value stands in sharp contrast to consensus expectations, which predicted around a 25 percent upside and decisive decoupling from the slowing U.S. economy this year."
Where Russia's future is concerned, the sky is the limit. What progress! What an example to the world! No wonder Russia enjoys such prestige and influence in the world, for example having both its candidate for president and its request to snub Georgia summarily rejected by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly. To doubly confirm Russian power and influence, Europe issued a continent-wide arrest warrant for Russian parliament member Andrei Lugovoi, who is believed to have participated in the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in Britain.
My blog La Russophobe has a detailed reflection on the apparent irrationality of Vladimir Putin's foreign policy.