This article in "The Nation"

March 29, 2002 1:41 PM

This article in "The Nation" bemoans the fact that the U.S is dissing its new best friend Russia, and that the recent entente cordiale is under threat. This article at the the Institute for War and Peace Reporting suggests that the U.S could, perhaps, be a little more selective in choosing its friends. I have often wondered if the west would have stood for Russia or the U.S.S.R using force on a scale to that which we have recently witnessed in Afghanistan or Chechnya. It looks like they have become our sons of bitches.
posted by Fat Buddha (3 comments total)

Frankly, I don't think we should care what Russia or Europe or whoever thinks because - surprise - they dislike the idea of America being a superpower. These tussles will always go back and forth and whoever is top dog will get battered for being a bully on one hand then slammed for not doing their duty as the leader on the other. Sometimes, you have to just bite the bullet and look out for number one, letting the chips rest wherever.

That said, I wouldn't trust old Vlad Putin (KGB) as far as Cheney could throw him.
posted by owillis at 3:05 PM on March 29, 2002

Russia's overall human rights situation does not sound good. "In an analysis of the "help wanted" advertisements in Moscow newspapers, Zoya Khotkina has observed that an average of 75 percent of the women who advertised their availability to work as secretaries had to specify "no intimacy," meaning no sexual services provided."

The problems of violence against women in wartime appear to have moved to the back burner under the Bush Administration-- very unfortunate, since protecting women's honor is a big talking point for the Taliban. Amnesty International news on women has several stories on Chechen women right now.


posted by sheauga at 8:41 AM on March 30, 2002

i'm kinda looking out for the russia-india-china trifecta.
posted by kliuless at 9:27 AM on March 30, 2002