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Putin spoke some blunt words in criticizing the Bush administration at the Munich Security Conference attended by delegates from 40 countries, including leading U.S. senators.
MUNICH, Germany (AFP) Feb. 10 – Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-frontal attack on the United States, saying it had broken from international law and made the world a more dangerous place.
Putin’s denunciation of US policy, made at a high-level security conference in Munich, prompted dismay among senior officials and politicians from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
The United States had disastrously “overstepped” its borders, said the Russian leader, who spearheaded international opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which was also opposed by Germany and France.
Several thousand anti-war protesters marched through the southern German city to demonstrate against the conference.
“The United States has overstepped its borders in all spheres — economic, political and humanitarian and has imposed itself on other states,” Putin said at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy.
What he called a “uni-polar” world dominated by the United States, “means in practice one thing: one centre of power, one centre of force, one centre of decision-making, a world of one master, one sovereign,” Putin said.
Such a situation was “extremely dangerous. No one feels secure because no one can hide behind international law.”
MUNICH, February 10 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time participates in the Munich conference on security.
More than 100 leaders of countries, ministers, parliamentarians and experts have gathered for the forum.
Among the participants are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Estonian President Toomas Ilves, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the Georgian, Slovenian and Polish defence ministers. Iranian National Security Council Secretary and nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani is expected to participate in the forum.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Bush administration says it’s surprised and disappointed by today’s tongue-lashing from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian leader said the U-S is creating a dangerous arms race that’s driving smaller nations to pursue nuclear weapons. Speaking to 250 officials, including 40 defense and foreign ministers, Putin singled out the U-S as the “one state” that “has overstepped its national borders in every way.”
The president’s national security spokesman calls Putin’s accusations “wrong.” But he says the White House expects to continue working with Russia on counterterrorism and to reduce “the spread and threat of weapons of mass destruction.”
This is a shot across the bow of the U.S. forces gathering near Iran.
It would mean a little more coming from a nation with a very spotty human rights record and involved in a pretty brutal occupation of its own…
However, I wonder what George W. sees in Putin’s eyes these days.
Last year when Cheney was in Lithuania for some conference he gave a speech that pretty viciously attacked Putin and Russian policies..ha in human rights abuses of all things(apparently with a perfectly straight fact) and accused Russia of several other things involving energy policies I think. Bringing the expected response from Putin. I was never sure what the hell Cheney’s exact goal was in probably starting the Cold War with Russia all over again…add to that now we’re talking about sanctions against Russian due to their dealings with Iran. And does that mean we’ll start threatening all countries who deal with Iran with sanctions? Might be a rather long list.
I imagine Putin’s tired of our publicly calling him out so to speak. This is the kind of stuff that the State Department is supposed to handle..if we have a problem with some country we talk to them through diplomatic channels and privately.
I’m certainly not surprised by Putin’s remarks and I doubt the rest of the world is either as they happen to be true. No doubt the only people who might get upset is the general public here who will get some version in the media that possibly makes Putin look a bit crazy.
I really don’t understand why bushco seems to almost delight in making enemies. Do they think making enemies shows in some weird way how tough they are?
This is a very witty Web site, run by American expats living in Moscow. Here’s an excerpt from their Christmas issue:
And I thought Putin was the one who Bush said he could see into his soul. But I guess that has gone straight down the memory hole.
История человечества, конечно, знает и периоды однополярного состояния и стремления к мировому господству. Чего только не было в истории человечества.
Однако что же такое однополярный мир? Как бы не украшали этот термин, он в конечном итоге означает на практике только одно: это один центр власти, один центр силы, один центр принятия решения.
Это мир одного хозяина, одного суверена. И это в конечном итоге губительно не только для всех, кто находится в рамках этой системы, но и для самого суверена, потому что разрушает его изнутри.
И это ничего общего не имеет, конечно, с демократией. Потому что демократия – это, как известно, власть большинства, при учете интересов и мнений меньшинства.
Кстати говоря, Россию, нас – постоянно учат демократии. Но те, кто нас учат, сами почему-то учиться не очень хотят.
Worth reading every f-king word and I never thought I’d ever say that about Vladimirovich. Copied the Russian out of respect and amdiration. The entire unedited speech in English can be found here.
The portion I quoted is:
Pax
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MUNICH (AP/NYT) Feb. 11 – With the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the American defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, and a Congressional delegation sitting stone-faced, Mr. Putin warned that the power amassed by any nation that assumes this ultimate global role “destroys it from within.
“It has nothing in common with democracy, of course,” he added. “Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations — military force.”
… U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had little to say about Putin’s remarks, noting only that “he was very candid.”
Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Putin’s charge that the U.S. “aspired to get unipolar power or acted unilaterally is just not borne out by the facts.”
“Even our involvement in Iraq, certainly Afghanistan, is pursuant to United Nations resolutions,” said Lieberman, I-Conn. “So that was provocative and wrong.”
“The reason for his comments is Russia’s concern about the growing amount of conflicts and the malfunctioning of international law,” Putin’s spokesman Dimitry Peskov said.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Putin said nothing about the NCI (Nuclear Cities Initiative), a U.S. – Russian program with mixed success in stemming the brain-drain of Russian nuclear scientists who shop themselves out to rogue regimes, unable to find work in Russia.
Putin said nothing about the upgrading of security at Russian nuclear warhead sites to prevent theft, by the National Nuclear Security Administration (part of DoE).
Still, there’s room for criticism of both countries for failing to fully retrieve bomb-grade fuel dispensed to third countries during the Cold War — and for continued use of the fuel in their respective reactors.
LOL! I do agree that this US administration has a lot to answer for, but I don’t think Putin is the best man, not having the best record on ethical and moral conduct, to be criticizing anyone.
Possibly being responsible for two assassinations and exporting weapons at a stunning rate left right and centre all over the world to anyone that wants to buy is not a man and an administration that you ought to take lessons from when it comes to preaching more stability and security in the world.
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Ugly for sure! Political assassinations are mild in comparison to the devastation and killings in Chechnya. I believe the Russians, Chinese, Americans, Israelis and a handful of other military dictatorships are in a league of their own.
A few assassinations more or less are a drop in a bucket when the scale of mass killings of wars is compared. After all the neocon bs of the Bush cabal and the mass killings in Iraq, Putin can take the U.S. government to task for the upheaval in the Middle East.
Russia is in transition from a communist regime and I have respect for how Vladimir Putin is handling domestic politics. Just a fortnight ago he held a yearly press conference for 3½ hours … can’t wait for George to follow suit.
Russia sits in on NATO conferences and has joined the WTO and G8. Bush has set back the clock a few decades as far as International Treaties and the United Nations is concerned. So take your pick, which is the greater jack… .
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."What I mentioned was as you said yourself a drop in the bucket, but Putin is not the right man and in the right position to pass moral judgment I am afraid. Russia under Putin’s leadership, early on, seemed to do a lot better than his predecessor Yeltsin and he has done some good by reducing the power of the oligarchs although I suspect most of it is done as a result of power politics and not so much because of moral and ethical convictions.
Much of the income pouring into the Russian treasury these days are now being used to boost the military. This paired with Putin’s more restrictive and mercantilistic trade policies are clear signs of a more nationalistic and confrontational international policy. This speech is just a part of this policy, preparing the world for a more confrontational Russia. The consequence of course is not a more secure world, but the opposite, a conclusion many European leaders also seem to have drawn.
In light of these policies and find it rather hilarious that this is the man that are standing up to the US administration calling their policy a threat to world. He ought to better his own moral and ethical standards on the foreign policy he is conducting before anyone takes his considerations on international affairs seriously. That is all I am saying.
Putin has a moral or ethical leg to stand on to back his criticism of the U.S.– because neither does the bush administration.
you see my friends, this is what happens when greedy, self-serving bastards think they can ignore the UNSC, ignore the U.S. Constitution, and ignore international law– all in the pursuit of oil domination and to prop up a weakening dollar.
now we look just as bad or worse than Russia under Putin. actually, we look worse than Russia right now, because the U.S. is supposed to be better than this.
again, as I stated on another blog– bu$hco is taking us to a very dangerous place here.
NY Times: Gates Counters Putin’s Words on U.S. Power
Um, because they’re true and justified?