Bush has restarted the cold war

Thank you President Bush.  You have officially restarted the cold war between the US and Russia.  

You’ve managed to accomplish this in addition to putting the US in a horrible quagmire in Iraq, increasing the income gap between rich and poor with your tax-cuts-for-the-rich scheme, and saddling future generations of this country with a crippling deficit.

You must be proud President Bush.

OK, sorry for the hyperbole.  While reading the news today (by news I mean BBC) I found this story prominently featured on BBC headlines.

Today Pres. Putin of Russia has suspended Russia's participation in the historic Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which had effectively limited the amount of heavy conventional forces deployed by armed forces between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural Mountains (basically continental Europe) this most effects NATO and Russian troop deployments.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended involvement in one of the key post-Cold War arms control treaties.  In a statement, the Kremlin said the choice was due to "extraordinary circumstances" affecting security.

Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over an increasing American presence in Eastern Europe.  Russia’s withdrawal is further evidence of mistrust between the US and Russia and the decay of East-West relations.

The BBC's Europe editor, Mike Saunders, says that the US announcement of its plans for a missile defence shield within Europe was the last straw for Russia.

I’m not defending Russia in any way; obviously they have their skeletons too.  Putin has effectively rolled back press reforms and now there are reports of a new "Putin Youth Guard, and the amount of independent newspapers shut down, and independent reporters killed is simply abhorable.

Russia indicates that suspending their participation in the CFE is a necessary thing.

The Kremlin maintains that the 1990 treaty is outdated and restricts its ability to move troops around its own territory.

I doubt Russia would feel pressured to redeploy their troops if the US weren’t deploying missile defense in Eastern Europe and maintaining a constant troop presence in Southern Asia.

The US has been pressuring Russia to remove troops from the regions of Abkhazia in Georgia and Trans-Dniester in Moldova as well as to recognize the rights of Chechnya to some sort of self governance, or at least not have to live under the brutality of the current police state that exists there.  How can we expect Russia to feel comfortable with an increasing US presence in Eastern Europe and Southern Asia?  Russia’s international posturing towards the US is consistently done in reaction to an increasing US militarization of Eastern Europe.  They just don’t trust us, and we continue to give them reasons not to.

I grew up during the later half of the cold war.  Nuclear War and WW3 really scared the sh*t out of me.  When the wall came down, Bush senior dealt with things fine, no bloodshed during the collapse, and no charges of US intervention.  

Then President Clinton came along, and all of the sudden World Peace was a real thing.

What the hell happened?  

(9/11 is not the answer to that question, either.)

Another thing that really upsets me is that this would be front page news in another era.  But because of all the other stuff that Bush has done, mainstream media’s buying off on every smokescreen that comes out of the Whitehouse, and because of America's obsession with fluff stories, a story like this doesn't get even a bat of attention.

Cheers.

•  Tips? Whatever?

  Not sure how much I will be around to respond, once again I am using "living in West Africa" as my excuse.

  All the best!

  by montanamatt on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 03:43:47 AM PDT

  •  How much do you want to bet

    that this will be downplayed -- or not even mentioned -- on the 24 hour cable "news" networks?
    The BBC is the only place on tv where it's possible to get real news anymore.  
    I saw the report.  This development is bone-chilling.  Thanks for the diary.

    by CarolynC967 on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 04:19:47 AM PDT

    •  I agree

      The national press is dead to me. Of course the press is very much alive to the establishment/elite. To them the press is doing its "job" perfectly. Keeping people entertained, complacent, and under the vague impression that they are informed and part of the decision-making process.

      by KOTCrum on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 05:09:54 AM PDT

•  Shrub has tried to erase....

  Any progress made in the last 75 years worldwide.
  Can't we just get a law passed that would allow Shrub to have his own little armageddon/family reunion?

  by manwithnoname on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 03:59:14 AM PDT

•  The need for a potent "ism" is crucial

  to the success of any military-industrial complex. The Project for a New American Century boys assumed that the Soviet empire was dissolved and not viable as a source of angst strong enough to fuel the war machine.

  And the War on Drugs was not working out either, so they settled on terror/Islam. Little did they know that Putin would get back up like a thriller movie villian that the hero didn't quite really finish off.

  by KOTCrum on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 04:17:35 AM PDT

  •  Those 'ism's make great Straussian 'noble lies'

    We need to fight communism.

    We need to fight islamofascism.

    America is a nation that fights for good and fights against evil.

    It's well understood that we sell our wars based on a national narrative, and you touch on how the isms play into the national dialog.

    But American imperialism is very much based on realism and realpolitik - I think the isms are just serve to give another layer of abstraction...

    That being said, the neo-cons aren't very good realists.

    by dantyrant on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 04:33:31 AM PDT

•  CFE was little more than a dead letter anyway

  Russia has been bitching and moaning,  not to mention cheatingon this treaty for 15 years now. There is the issue of the "flank areas", where Moscow says they don't have enough forces. They use this as a fig leaf to build up forces in Chechnya and employ forces against Georgia and conduct operations in Abkhazia.

  The Flank Zone: To alleviate concerns that either alliance would launch a flanking maneuver against the other, the treaty placed specific limits on the number of tanks, ACVs, and artillery for Europe's southern and northern flanks, including portions of Russia. Moscow has consistently sought to abolish the flank zone as it considers the limits to be unfair because it is the only country (aside from Ukraine) that has specific limits on where it can deploy TLE in its own territory. Russian concerns were partially met in May 1996 when the CFE parties agreed that Russia's original flank zone limits would apply to a smaller area, while Russia's original flank territory would have larger limits. Moscow's total CFE limits, however, remained the same. Though Russia has consistently been in noncompliance with its flank limits (even with the higher May 1996 flank limits that entered into force on May 31, 1999), Moscow has remained within its overall treaty limits and has repeatedly stated that its noncompliance is only temporary.

  Has repeatedly stated that its noncompliance is only temporary. Hah!

  by calipygian on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 04:21:57 AM PDT

  •  I just glad

    that it wasn't us who broke or abrogated a treaty for once.

    by calipygian on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 04:23:28 AM PDT

    •  exactly

      why should Putin give a rat's ass about treaties and laws anyway?  If the 4 branches of our government play fast and loose and not give a shit about responsibilities to their citizens and other nations why should we expect the rule of law to be followed elsewhere?

      Mayhem is the order of the day.

      by route66 on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 04:28:26 AM PDT

  •  That's a great point

    I seem to remember this treaty being as much symbol as it was action even when it was signed.  Although, I would think Western/Eastern Europe certainly liked the idea of some sort of written pact limiting the amount of tanks in their countries.

    I don't think it applies to Central Asia as those states are loosely regarded as being east of the Urals, (but don't have a citation to back this claim).

    Seems like they want to boost presence in their "rebelling" areas.  Also, I would think that having US troops in the Caucasus, missiles in Eastern Europe and the construction of several "temporary" bases in Iraq forced their move.

    by montanamatt on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 04:42:35 AM PDT

•  Plus he has come close to...

  ...starting another World War and another Civil War inside our own country.

  He almost hit the trifecta.

  Fortunately, almost doesn't count.

  by Big Nit Attack on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 04:47:06 AM PDT

•  You are not being hyperbolic. it started in 2002

  Remember, shortly after this novel departure from US policy was codified in the NSS of 2002 Russia decided NOT to ratify the new arms reduction treaty precisely because the US had decided to flaunt
  international law.

  Citing the new "law of the jungle" (their exact words) they argued that "The strong will trample the weak. We will not be  weak. We will not give up our
  missiles."

  The result?  SCO.

  by 8ackgr0und N015e on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 05:33:29 AM PDT

•  War = Profit

  The US and the USSR played the world populace like a violin, orchestrating the Cold War, which was just an extraordinarily powerful tool used to scare people into submission.  When the average person is faced with the "Us-Against-Them" mentality, they seem hard-wired for the dreaded group mentality.  Personal introspection stops and opinions are issued by the ruling government or church.  However, haven't we as a world group wisened up to this particular tactic used by world leaders since the beginning of recorded history?  The Cold War, AGAIN?!?  Come on world leaders, I figured that after you pulled off 9/11 you could've thought up a new tactic that wasn't as transparent.  Wow, things must be pretty chaotic at the top, eh?

  by indigowatcher on Sat Jul 14, 2007 at 06:48:28 AM PDT