There are two things that among all the others have always perturbed me about George W. Bush, and when I think of them I see him as transparently stupid. I know it's not nice to say so, and simply because he lacks judgment in some areas does not invalidate him. But those two things were his purported ability to speak Spanish, and his friendship with Vladimir Putin.
In the first case, it was a friendship with Mexican President Vicente Fox that got us no good news. I think there are few Americans who live in the southwest part of our country who can tell us with certainty that Bush's friendship has resulted in any positive benefit between the people of both nations. Mexico is starting to be regarded in the same way it used to be, when it was OK to say 'wetback' and 'tinpot'. Indeed I don't know where the real benefits are, either economic or political when it comes to America's relationship to Mexico. But at least we're not hostile, nor do we have any recent history that compels us to be.
Russia on the other hand has been hostile since the sad end of their royal families. Actually, I'm not prepared to say we were great friends or allies prior to then. I don't know and haven't studied. I am brought to mind of a sly reference made by Putin I read about earlier this year about the deniability of [Russian] proxies against the US.
Today we find ourselves trying to deny the possibility that Polonium 210, which has got a certain extraordinary appeal as a weapon, may have been used at Putin's behest. This is Bush's friend? In the interests of disclosure, as a kid I was absolutely fascinated by nuclear energy, and I still find it very interesting for a number of reasons. As that kid, I created a superhero named 'Beta Man' who could, rather like Space Ghost, shoot beta radiation out of his fists. I was too frightened of gamma radiation to give any hero or villain that power, and I knew alpha radiation could be blocked by a piece of paper. Oh but what a crafty villain it takes to use alpha radiation as a poison. This was the kind of consciousness that made us aware of the kind of threat communism posed; the entire cold war alertness that made us think of superheroes and world destruction in the first place.
Bad Old Russia could be a part of this entire new GWOT. But we know from Afghanistan and Chechnya that the Russians must have some geopolitical sympathy for our cause against radical Islam. Where would they send their munitions today? A satellite isn't a satellite any longer. Is George W. Bush or the next president so sure that Russia is not interested in letting us feel some of their pain? Would they not be opposed to goosing it along just a little?
Everything is deniable and in that gray area America is politically stymied. Iraq is proof as is our lack of resolve and strategic direction. We seem unable to institutionalize a solution which is oriented towards victory or even detente.
What did Russia do to us that was so bad? How many years after WW2 did it take us to reach McCarthyism? Why are we not able to see that same level of determination in the jihadi threat? I think it is perhaps because we don't truly see Iran and Syria as rivals worth taking seriously, nor Israel worth defending, nor even our investment in the oil-producing capacity and economy of the Middle East. There certainly seem to be enough factions of Americans who would allow us to write off the entire area as a loss. They would mortgage that future for the sake of some fake peace dividend peace of mind.
But what if it was Russia? Isn't it?
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