By George H. Wittman on 4.30.07 @ 12:07AM
In his state of the nation address the reigning Russian tsar creates a foreign threat as a way to prepare for a re-election run after all.
The Russian predilection for seeking the subliminal meaning of
every official pronouncement certainly is not lost on their wily
president. There is no doubt he sought to send some messages during
his recent state of the nation speech. The question is, who heard
him and what did they hear?
Vladimir Putin announced a "moratorium" on Russian participation
in the 1990 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE) and
its subsequent extensions. This immediately drew speculation from
foreign observers that Putin was responding to American plans for
missile defense bases to be placed in Poland and the Czech
republic.
The speech had a consistent theme: The United States' and NATO's
efforts at building "systems of military bases near our borders"
was clearly stated. Rather dramatically he also chose to remind his
audience " the next state of the nation speech will be delivered by
a different head of state." That statement may have contained the
real intent of his speech.
Here was definitive counsel to the Duma and the Russian people
in general that Russia has once again found itself in a tightening
western noose. The implication was that the United States and NATO
are seeking to intimidate Russia, a Russia that is once again
regaining its justified role in world affairs.
Why do this? Putin knows full well there is no chance of western
military aggression. The anti-missile project is unmistakably to
counter any future Iranian nuclear threat. Why create an image of
American political military ambitions in Eastern Europe? The answer
is that there was a subliminal aim to lay the groundwork for a
popular demand that the Russian constitution be amended to allow
Putin to remain in power.
Russia's president said in effect that a growing emergency is at
hand. Who could miss the implied message? A true patriot would not
want to change leaders at such a crucial time. It was the sort of
unstated direction the Russian public is acculturated to seek.
Vladimir Vladimirovich should be allowed to stay another term to
prevent the gathering western forces from trying to strangle Russia
just as economic and political stability is on the horizon.
For the ordinary Russian stability defines democracy. Freedom to
dissent runs a far second to stability. Putin has brought
stability. It will be argued that commitment to legal aspects of
the constitution in this context runs counter to the broader intent
of the constitution itself. The Russian man-in-the-street is well
prepared to accept this logic.
The fact is, of course, that nothing in the American missile
defense plan is new. Putin's government has been well briefed from
the very beginning. In 2002 the Russians themselves proffered the
idea of developing a joint missile defense system, but then dragged
their heels and now have declined Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates's offer to revive the idea. Russia has never been excluded.
It has even been invited to view the construction of the Pacific
sites in Alaska and California.
Furthermore there is no real military reason for Russia not to
continue to participate in the CFE treaty. The only reason to have
taken this step is to create a phony atmosphere of international
insecurity brought on by the Americans. And who gains by such
absurdity? If V.V. Putin wants to be drafted to stay on as
president, he is the one that gains by the creation of this
charade.
The key element in this Russian drama is the similarity between
their current public pronouncements and the Orwellian efforts to
manipulate popular thought processes during the Communist era. The
Kremlin today pretends to be a democratic institution, yet at the
same time Putin's administration works steadfastly to quell the
slightest dissent.
Vladimir Putin cannot appear to seek a change in the
constitution. He must be seen as having had to have been forced to
accept the people's will. What more clear example of the need for
"the people" to act than a nefarious effort on the part of the
Americans and NATO to press closer and closer to Russia's borders
with missile systems?
The answer is obvious. Something -- everything -- must be done
to arrange for Vladimir Vladimirovich to stay on the job. Let's
hear it for "Putin in '08!"
topics:
Vladimir Putin, Constitution, Military, Iran, Russia, NATO, Alaska
