Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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Putin on the Ritz

Rich Galen

Friday February 25, 2005

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President George W. Bush met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bratislava, Slovakia yesterday and, according to press accounts, made it clear to Mr. Putin that the recent efforts to consolidate power in the Kremlin smelled eerily like backsliding away from Democracy.

The Russian newspaper "Pravda" declared in its on-line editions that Mr. Bush was way, WAY out of line if he thought he could come to Slovakia (which used to be part of Czechoslovakia which used to be part of the Warsaw Pact which was the name the Soviet Union used to describe organization of Eastern European nations which were under its thumb for fifty years) and wag the finger of freedom in Vladimir's face.

President Bush indicated to Putin that if Russia wants to be part of the community of European nations, he would have to stop doing things like - the President didn't say this, but it is not hard to imagine this is what he meant - stop doing thinks like trying to manipulate the Ukrainian elections by poisoning the pro-Western candidate in support of the pro-Moscow guy.

Pravda took exception to this tack, sniffing,

Russia has always been part of Europe, while the USA has not. Therefore what authority does this citizen of the USA have in speaking about European affairs?

Part of the problem is that the real Europeans - Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder - haven't had much to say on the subject largely, one thinks, because they knew that President Bush and the American people would carry their l'eau und wasser for them.

Again.

As an example: In a roundup of press coverage, the Washington Post.com's Dan Froomkin found this piece by James Harding and Hugh Williamson in the "Financial Times" regarding the Iranian nuke situation:

France, Germany and Britain have led negotiations with Iran, which the Bush administration has supported in principle but refused to join. The European troika has pleaded with Washington, arguing that without the offer of US economic incentives and security guarantees it will be unable to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The Big Three across the pond understand, even if Pravda does not, that for better or worse if the US isn't involved, ain't nothin' much gonna happen.

The piece of this which will keep historians busy for decades - if not centuries - to come is the fact that President George W. Bush is acting the way great Presidents of the United States have acted for the past hundred years.

Both Roosevelts. Wilson. Reagan. Some of the others for some periods of time. Each understood that the United States had, not just a role in the economic and political affairs of the nations of the Earth, but had a leading role.

Wading into world issues comes at a price. Part of the price is a certain lack of gleeful support from the citizens of nations which might have parallel goals, but which can't get any traction toward those goals without US help.

Maybe the Presidents of France and Germany just couldn't make time in their busy schedules to have a heart-to-heart with the President of Russia to help him understand their positions.

It is also possible that Chirac and Schroeder knew that Putin would not cross the street to get a stern lecture on Democracy from them; much less travel to Bratislava to receive such a scolding.

But President Putin met with President Bush knowing full well that the meeting was going to take place, not in the Ritz, but in the woodshed.

New Topic:

This is how hip I am to matters cultural: For weeks I've been wondering why Chris Rock has been so eager for Jamie Foxx to win an Academy Award.

I thought all the chatter was about - and I'm serious about this - Jamie Farr ("Max Klinger" of M*A*S*H fame) which made his casting as Ray Charles in the film "Ray" all the more confusing to me.

Farr starring in a film about Ms. West, "Mae," would make much more sense.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the "Pravda" column; a pretty Mullfoto of a Wisconsin sunset; a remarkable "Separated at Birth," and a silly Catchy Caption of the Day.

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