Populism at its best (State of the Union Address) -- Politics and Society in Russia and its Neighbors

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Date Posted: 15:19:05 01/30/02 Wed
Author: Patrick
Subject: Populism at its best (State of the Union Address)

First some quotes from the speech (taken from the LA Times):

"We can overcome evil with greater good,"

"The men and women of our armed forces have delivered a message to every enemy of the United States," Bush said. "You will not escape the justice of this nation."

In his strongest terms yet, Bush called North Korea, Iraq and Iran part of an "axis of evil," warning that their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction pose a "grave and growing danger" and will not be tolerated.

"I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer," Bush said.

Wow, and that's just the terrorism part of the speech. The whole thing was two big parts anyway. Terrorism and Economy/Social Problems.

Where does Russia come into all of this...well, apart from mentioning Russia as its new buddy and friend, America also mentioned some countries that are now on the "watch-list" or maybe even "to-do list". Iraq, Iran and North Korea - welcome to what Bush's world defines as "evil". These countries are in a good club - Russia once belonged in that category, so did Cuba (but it got better since the US can rely on Cuba to return fleeing POWs, oops, sorry detainees), who else, oh yes, China, this menace from the east which has a huge nuclear capability.
It's kinda hard right now for Bush or anyone to take sides with either Pakistan or India right now, because they are at each others throat at the moment. Pakistan is currently accepted into the "you're getting better, so we like you again" category of states. Nevertheless, the basic strangeness of Pakistan and its customs (firstly that they are mostly Muslims) is still making a lot of Americans worry about their truthness.
Isn't it strange that when you look at the list of those 19 suicide terrorists you find more Saudi Arabians and Pakistanis than any other nationality. Atta was even Egyptian - wow! But the fact stands that this attack was mostly conducted by Saudi Arabians under Atta's (Egyptian) leadership. No I see the point that they were trained in Afghanistan and that Osama Bin Laden likes to hang out there but imagine this - if let's say they were trained in a camp in Saudi Arabia (plenty of space there) and Osama Bin Laden would currently hang out there ( what I actually think is happening..) then, well, what do you think? Would there be mass bombardement of the Sheiks palace and horse stables? Well, they harbor them don't they? Oh, crap, they have all the oil! Jeez, that's a bummer. Guess we gotta bomb someone else then to please the "revenge" attitude of the American people.
Osama bin Laden is Saudi Arabian by the way - a fact that not many Americans realize I think. But then again, hearing the speech of Bush, maybe he's preparing for an attack on Saudi Arabia in the future right now. By getting more self-reliant with energy resources (see drilling for oil in Nature reserve in Alaska) the US could switch the attitude towards Saudi Arabia for the time being and make it a new target. Maybe land some more Marines there or remove the Sheik and install some Saudi Arabian guy who studied in Harvard and goes back far with Ashcroft or Rumsfeld. This is just theoretical talk obviously. I doubt anything like this will happen. It's just a thought-provoking concept I want to throw out there.
Alright, well I am gonna check out the news in Russia now and what Putin's response to the speech was. I sure hope he didn't respond like he did before "that was a mistake!" I think he's one of the only major political leaders out there right now that can afford to voice a, at least, more reasonable opinion or even counter-Bush sentiment. Afterall, the US won't put Russia back into the "evil" states category for a while! Although the military would certainly love that!
that's all. Patrick

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Replies:

Re: Populism at its best (State of the Union Address) -- George Sarkisov, 09:25:20 02/01/02 Fri
- Your question George.... -- Patrick, 20:10:48 02/04/02 Mon