President Putin urges USA to withdraw troops from Iraq

[lovuian]

http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/366/16019_Iraq.html

President Putin urges USA to withdraw troops from Iraq
08/20/2005 16:26
Russia acts along with China at the time when not only allies, but even American citizens turn their backs to the Bush's administration

Another diplomatic scandal has recently occurred between Russia and the USA. Having a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Russian President Putin called upon the USA and its allies to set the terms for withdrawing the troops from Iraq. The US administration expressed its concerns about such a statement from Putin. The scandal took place against the background of the Russian-Chinese military exercise in the Far East. The exercise virtually became the progression of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, which had been held in the republic of Kazakhstan. Being SCO members, Russia and China called upon the USA to withdraw its army bases from Central Asia.

The Russian president had a meeting with King Abdullah II Of Jordan in the city of Sochi (a resort city on the Black Sea coast). The heads of states discussed the situation in the Middle East, touched upon the subject of Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip and the Iraqi problem. Putin pointed out during the talks that the anti-Saddam coalition was supposed to set the date for withdrawing the troops from Iraq to be able to normalize the situation in the war-torn country. "We believe that one should develop a schedule for the gradual withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq. A lot of Iraqis perceive them as occupation troops, like they did before, and we know it very well. The solution of the goal will help attract a considerable part of the armed resistance in Iraq to the state construction process," Putin said.

It did not take too much time for Washington's harsh reaction to arrive. Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, emphasized that the US president had clearly expressed and clarified the USA's standpoint on rendering security help to Iraq. "When Iraq has enough energy to guarantee its own security, we will leave," McCormack said. The official also referred to George W. Bush's opinion, who said that withdrawing troops from Iraq could be interpreted as betraying the Iraqi nation. In addition, Bush believes, such a step would undermine the USA's entire struggle against the international terrorism.


more...
You won't see this in American papers!!!

[lvx35]

1. Looks like they're starting to put the squeeze on.

Not suprising. America is starting to look weak in Iraq, and therefore Russia and China are starting to feel their strength. We'd better get Iraq ready to go pretty soon, or it will begin to look like America hasn't the ability to defeat a small group of insurgents, which will really make sino-russian heads swell.

[anotherdrew]

3. they seem to be getting there...

my fear is that we have played our hand in iraq, now everyone has seen our operational doctrine, they had plenty of time to observe our weapon systems and such. And yes, it's clear we can't even control iraq much less the rest of the world... yet our 'leaders' openly speak of "world domination." If this isn't outright madness on the part of the bush people I don't know what it is. What the hell do they think they're doing? Do they really want to nuke the world? 'cause I don't see how else we could win the conflict bush seems to be trying to needlessly provoke.

[liberaliraqvet26]

2. he's gonna be off the Christmas card list now...

good ol' Vladimir

[bpilgrim]

4. he's probably hoping we never leave

either way we & china (and the rest of the world) wins


http://media.globalfreepress.com

peace

[indepat]

5. We certainly would not want to betray Iraq by withdrawing occupational

forces.

[splat@14]

6. "Puty" not dancing to Shrubs music anymore!?

Good thing he already has nuclear weapons or we'd invade.

[wli]

7. there are terrifying implications here

Not only are they seeing Bushler's tactics, they're also seeing his lack of rationality and breaking out threats to use nuclear bombs.

Now, the MAD theory basically says whoever successfully wages a preemptive strike wins. And the "US is no longer a rational player" observation puts things squarely in the realm of the SCO preemptively nuking the US.

Frankly, at the rate is pissing off the entire rest of the world, I would not be shocked in the slightest to see the US "softened up" with nukes and invasions coming in from every country of the world, and that in a preemptive fashion.

[54anickel]

10. Russia and China are playing nice and making friends all over the place

these days as they get ready to smack us down. "Hit 'em while they're down!"

I've said it before - we are sooooo screwed.

Folks are getting nervous:

Eastern axis 'Peace Mission' heralds new Cold War for the US

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1818212005

IN A description worthy of the grand traditions of communist double-think, the war games conducted by China and Russia this week were given the codename 'Peace Mission 2005'.

Washington was never likely to be taken in by the name for these apparently innocent exercises in the Yellow Sea. Instead, they were viewed as a clear challenge to US authority, as well as an indication of how the world's strategic balance of power is shifting.

In retrospect, the 1990s were a period of comparative innocence when America reigned supreme. The Cold War had been won and the US looked forward to a generous peace dividend. Overseas, no other country could hope to compete with them, while such international crises as the Balkans and genocide in Rwanda did little to trouble US borders.

Times change. China's continuing rise as an economic and military powerhouse has altered the balance of international power politics, while Vladimir Putin's Russia seeks to find ways of regaining the self-respect it lost when the Soviet Union was eclipsed.

Suspicions of US hegemony played a part in Moscow's decision to oppose the toppling of Saddam Hussein, while Russian economic interests in Iran offer another potential area for tension with Washington.

more...

[nodehopper]

13. that's some over-the-top analysis...it's not the cold war era anymore

there is plenty to be afraid of. I don't think a preemtive nuke on a national level is one of those things.

[wli]

15. It's not over the top at all.

The assessment of rationality is a large factor in MAD and/or preemptive attack logic. The conclusion that Bushler and the neocons are irrational serves to motivate a preemptive strike, and does so quite effectively.

[54anickel]

16. No one needs to nuke us. Shrub's gonna reduce us to a banana

republic in no time flat. The only one I fear flingin' nukes around preemptively is Shrub.

[wli]

18. because the rationality level is assessed to be low, right?

Now what stops Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao from making the same assessment?

[54anickel]

20. Ahhh, but the reason Shrub (actually Cheney) felt confident in jaw

flapping about tactical nuke strikes against Iran was that there was nothing Mutually Assured. They know damned well Iran does not have nukes - no MAD involved at threatening Iran. Putin just introduced MAD to the chess board. Check?

[54anickel]

8. Putin Offers Money to Jordan (Ewwww!!!)

http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=527&id=602296

snip>

As to the Russian-Jordanian relations, Putin specified Russia may provide financial aid to Jordan so that they could gain momentum. “The case in hand is millions of dollars,” Putin added after certain hesitation, perhaps, in an attempt to make it clear – should Jordan be short of money for the next consignment of Russia’s planes and weapons, Russia would back it up. The terms of such loans will be very attractive. So far, Russia has never provided the funds this way, Putin promised.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

9. PootyPoot getting tired of the monkey?

This is weird indeed.

[Viking12]

11. But, but, but, Bush looked into to his eyes.....

how could Putin turn on our great leader.

[deminks]

12. Maybe he needs to look into his eyes again...

lol...you know, look into his soul. As if Dubya would recognize a soul if he found one, and as if Pooty-Poot had one to find. I would be too frightened of what I saw in either one of their eyes.

[Rex]

14. We are building a dozen permanent military bases in Iraq and

will have that huge CIA depo, you know our Iraqi embassy to spy on every living critter in Asia.

Ya, it gets really interesting now.

[NNN0LHI]

17. I bet Bush's BS about military action against Iran put Putin over the edge

I just got a feeling.

Don

[54anickel]

19. Yep, I agree and China has a vested interest in Iran as well. n/t

[LiberalVoice]

21. Russia, China, and Iran...

Should be fun for the US...:-/

[Raster]

22. make no mistake. in world opinion the United States is the

number one threat to world peace. the United States under its present leadership is considered the planet's number one terrorist organization.

It's no mere co-inkydink that Russia and China are holding the world's largest wargames (other than Iraq) ever. Even as much as Russia and China distrust each other, they distrust us more.

[oda]

23. the pot

is about to overflow

[newyawker99]

24. Hi oda!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: