Putin says US to blame for world events for throwing its might around

[David Guyatt]

At the increasing risk of sounding pro Putin, which I am definitely not by a long shot, I find it hard to disagree with his analysis here. In fact I think it as square a hit on the head of the nail as possible.

Putin accuses US of causing global instability



He said the likelihood of future wars had "sharply increased"

KASHMIRA GANDER

Friday 24 October 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the US of undermining global stability, and warned that the world will face new wars if Washington does not respect the interests of other nations.

[B][B]During a speech in the Russian city of Sochi, the President argued that while Moscow does not see Washington as a threat US foreign policy has created chaos. Citing the wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria, he went on to accuse the US and its allies of "fighting against the results of its own policy".[/B][/B]
[B][B]"They are throwing their might to remove the risks they have created themselves, and they are paying an increasing price," Putin told political experts at the Black Sea resort.[/B][/B]
[B][B]"I think that the policies of the ruling elite are erroneous. I am convinced that they go against our interests, undermine trust in the United States," he said without offering specific examples.[/B][/B]
[B][B]"The probability of a series of acute conflicts with indirect and even direct involvement of major powers has sharply increased," he said. "Ukraine is an example of such conflicts that influence a global balance of forces, and, I think, not the last one."[/B][/B]
[B][B]Addressing the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, which has dragged Russia-West relations to their lowest point since the Cold War, Mr Putin admitted that Russia had helped former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich to flee in February.[/B][/B]
[B][B]"I will say it openly - he asked to be driven away to Russia. Which we did," Putin said.
[/B][/B]
Mr Putin went on to accuse Western powers of supporting the overthrow of pro-Russian Mr Yanukovych, and claimed leaders had dismissed Russia's legitimate interests in its neighbour.
In response to Russia's annexation of Crimea in March and its support for pro-Russian insurgents fighting government troops in eastern Ukraine, the US and EU have imposed several rounds of crippling sanctions against Moscow.
But Mr Putin claimed that Moscow would not "beg" in response to the sanctions imposed on it.
Mr Putin also argued that the interests of Russia and other nations need to be taken into account to stabilise the global situation.
"Russia is not demanding some special, exclusive place in the world.

"While respecting interests of others, we simply want our interests to be taken into account too, and our position to be respected," he said.

[Magda Hassan]

Yes, I'm not a Putinista myself but it is hard not to come across as that when he is the only one on the world stage talking sense and calling things as they are and making a better alternative for the international framework to work.
From the same meeting:

Putin Lashes Out At US, West For Destabilizing World

Video Vladimir Putin lashed out at the United States and the West for destabilizing the world order of checks and balances for its own gains. He also accused the West of inflaming the situation in Ukraine and said Russia is not interested in building an empire.
The Russian President delivered a fierce broadside aimed at the United States in a speech for the Valdai Club in Sochi, which is an informal group of scholars. He hit out at Washington for behaving without regard to the rest of the world's interests
"The system of international relations needed some changes, but the USA, who believe they were the winners of the Cold War, have not seen the need for this." He added that the US has been trying to create the world "for their own gains." The Russian President added that because of this, regional and global security had been weakened.
During his speech, Putin used the Russian version of the Latin phrase, "Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi" (what is allowed for god, is not allowed for cattle,) alluding to the double standards used by Washington.

President Putin Speaks at 4:30 seconds

US sponsoring Islamic extremism

Putin also touched on the issue of the growth of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and also accused the West of, "turning a blind eye," to the encroachment of international terrorism into Russia and Central Asia. Putin believes the US has played a considerable role in sponsoring the growth of Islamic extremism, using the example of Washington's funding of the Mujahidin in the Afghan-Soviet war in the 1980's, which eventually gave birth to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
"It never ceases to amaze me how our partners have been guilty of making the same mistakes time and again. They have in the past sponsored Islamic extremists who were battling against the Soviet Union, which took place in Afghanistan. It was because of this the Taliban and Al-Qaeda was created," the president added.
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) is the latest terrorist organization, which is destabilizing the world and Putin was scathing of countries that have been helping to fund the Islamist militants by buying cut price oil they are selling.
"Terrorists have been selling oil at really low prices and those countries who have been buying it and then selling it on, are financing terrorism, which will eventually come back to bite them," the Russian President said.

Putin all for Nuclear cuts

Relations between Russia and the US have been plummeting for months; however Vladimir Putin accused the US of using the EU to further its own gains against Russia. He hit out at the numerous sanctions that have been imposed on Moscow, saying, "This was a mistake, which has a knock-on effect on everyone."
"The USA, which has implemented sanctions against Russia, is sawing at the branches, upon which they are sitting," President Putin added.
The reduction of nuclear arsenals was another issue, which was high on the agenda for the Russian President and once again, he was not afraid of having a dig at Washington for their reluctance to cut the number of nuclear missiles. He mentioned that unfortunately many countries see the only way to preserve their sovereignty is, "To make a nuclear bomb."
The reduction in nuclear arsenals was initially proposed by the Obama administration and Putin admitted it had potential, before talks about decreasing weapons stockpiles collapsed.
"Russia has been all for the continuation of talks about the reduction of nuclear arsenals," and according to President Putin, "Moscow is ready for serious talks, but without "double standards."

Genie out of the bottle

Perhaps Putin's harshest criticism was reserved for the West's creation of color revolutions and "controlled chaos," which he a likened to "letting the genie out of the bottle," with particular reference to Ukraine.
"We have been trying to discuss the Ukraine issue with the EU for a long time, but we were told this was none of our business. They then put two countries against each other, which has led to countless destruction of infrastructure. When I asked why did they do this, they just shrug their shoulders and don't have an answer," Putin added.
President Putin made reference to the Bear' defending its territory to take a swipe at the US for its continued encroachment towards Russia's territory. "He is considered the owner of the Taiga, but he, I know for a fact, does not want to go to a different climatic zone, as it is uncomfortable for him there. However, he will not give it to anyone else; I think that this should be clear," he said.
The Russian President said that there is no truth whatsoever in claims from the West that Russia is interested in empire building and that Moscow is looking to destabilize the world order. With relations between Russia and the West at a very low ebb, Putin also hinted Russia will look to develop allies further afield.
"Russia has made its choice we want to develop our economy and develop democratic values. We work with our counterparts in the Shanghai Cooperation, the BRICS union for example. We want our opinions to be respected likewise. We all need to be cautious to not make hasty and dangerous steps. Some of the players on the global front have forgotten about the need for this," he said in another barb directed at Washington.

[David Guyatt]

Robert Parry weighs in on the subject by hammering the NY Times

Treating Putin Like a Lunatic

October 25, 2014

Exclusive: Official Washington treats whatever comes out of Russian President Putin's mouth as the ravings of a lunatic, even when what he says is obviously true or otherwise makes sense, as the New York Times has demonstrated again, writes Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
When reading the New York Times on many foreign policy issues, it doesn't take a savant to figure out what the newspaper's bias is. Anything, for instance, relating to Russian President Vladimir Putin drips of contempt and hostility.
Rather than offer the Times' readers an objective or even slightly fair-minded account of Putin's remarks, we are fed a steady diet of highly prejudicial language, such as we find in Saturday's articleabout Putin's comments at a conference in which he noted U.S. contributions to chaos in countries, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a crowd on May 9, 2014, celebrating the 69th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Crimean port city of Sevastopol from the Nazis. (Russian government photo)

That Putin is correct appears almost irrelevant to the Times, which simply writes that Putin "unleashed perhaps his strongest diatribe against the United States yet" with his goal "to sell Moscow's view that American meddling has sparked most of the world's recent crises."
Rather than address the merits of Putin's critique, the Times' article by Neil MacFarquhar uncritically cites the "group think" of Official Washington: "Russia is often accused of provoking the crisis in Ukraine by annexing Crimea, and of prolonging the agony in Syria by helping to crush a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow's last major Arab ally. Some analysts have suggested that Mr. Putin seeks to restore the lost power and influence of the Soviet Union, or even the Russian Empire, in a bid to prolong his own rule."
Yes, "some analysts" can be cited to support nearly any claim no matter how wrongheaded, or you can use the passive tense "is often accused" to present any charge no matter how unfair. But a more realistic summary of the various crises afflicting the world would note that Putin is correct when he describes past U.S. backing for various extremists, from Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East and Central Asia to neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
For example, during the 1980s, the Reagan administration consciously encouraged Islamic fundamentalism as a strategy to cause trouble for "atheistic communism" in Afghanistan and in the Muslim provinces of the Soviet Union.
To overthrow a Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan, the CIA and its Saudi collaborators financed the mujahedeen "holy warriors" who counted among their supporters Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden. Some of those Islamists later blended into the Taliban and al-Qaeda with dire consequences for the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
By invading Iraq in 2003, President George W. Bush toppled a secular dictator, Saddam Hussein, but saw him replaced by what amounted to a Shiite theocracy which pushed Iraq's Sunni minority into the arms of "Al-Qaeda in Iraq," which has since rebranded itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or simply the Islamic State. Those extremists now control large swaths of Iraq and Syria and have massacred religious minorities and Western hostages, prompting another U.S. military intervention.
[B]Obama's Interventions[/B]
[B]In Libya in 2011, President Barack Obama acquiesced to demands from "liberal interventionists" in his administration and authorized an air war to overthrow another secular autocrat, Muammar Gaddafi, whose ouster and murder have sent Libya spiraling into political chaos amid warring Islamist militias. It turns out Gaddafi was not wrong when he warned of Islamist terrorists operating around Benghazi.[/B]
[B]Similarly, Official Washington's embrace of protests and violence aimed at removing another secular Arab leader, Syria's Bashar al-Assad, contributed to the bloody civil war that has devastated that country and created fertile ground for the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, the official al-Qaeda affiliate.[/B]
[B]Though Obama balked at demands from neocons and "liberal interventionists" that he launch an air war against the Syrian military in 2013, he did authorize secret shipments of weapons and training for the supposedly "moderate" Syrian rebels who have generally sided with Islamist fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.[/B]
[B]Many of these same neocons and "liberal interventionists" have been eager to ratchet up the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program, including neocon dreams to "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," also a desire of hardliners in Israel.[/B]
[B]In some of these crises, one of the few international leaders who has cooperated with Obama to tamp down tensions has been Putin, who helped negotiate conflict-avoiding agreements with Syria and Iran. But those peaceful interventions made Putin an inviting target for the neocons who began in fall 2013 arranging a coup d'etat in Ukraine on Russia's border.[/B]
[B]As Obama and Putin each paid too little attention to these maneuvers, neocons such as National Endowment for Democracy president Carl Gershman, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland went to work on the Ukrainian coup.[/B]
[B]However to actually overthrow Ukraine's elected President Viktor Yanukovych, the coup makers had to collaborate with neo-Nazi militias which were organized in western Ukraine and dispatched to Kiev where they provided the muscle for the Maidan uprising. Neo-Nazi leaders were given several ministries in the new government, and neo-Nazi militants were incorporated into the National Guard and "volunteer" militias dispatched to crush the ethnic Russian resistance in the east.[/B]
[B][B]Putin for the Status Quo[/B][/B]
[B][B]The underlying reality of the Ukraine crisis was that Putin actually supported the country's status quo, i.e. maintaining the elected president and the constitutional process. It was the United States along with the European Union that sought to topple the existing system and pull Ukraine from Russia's orbit into the West's.[/B][/B]
[B][B]Whatever one thinks about the merits of that change, it is factually wrong to accuse Putin of initiating the Ukraine crisis or to extrapolate from Official Washington's false conventional wisdom and conclude that Putin is a new Hitler, an aggressor seeking to reestablish the Soviet Union or the Russian Empire.[/B][/B]
[B][B]But the Times and other major U.S. news outlets have wedded themselves to that propaganda theme and now cannot deviate from it. So, when Putin states the obvious that the U.S. has meddled in the affairs of other nations and that Russia did not pick the fight over Ukraine his comments must be treated like the ravings of a lunatic unleashing some "diatribe."[/B][/B]
[B][B]Among Putin's ranting was his observation, according to the Times article, that "the United States supports dubious' groups ranging from open neo-fascists to Islamic radicals.'[/B][/B]
[B][B]"Why do they support such people,' he asked the annual gathering known as the Valdai Club, which met this year in the southern resort town of Sochi. They do this because they decide to use them as instruments along the way in achieving their goals, but then burn their fingers and recoil.'[/B][/B]
[B][B]"The goal of the United States, he said, was to try to create a unipolar world in which American interests went unchallenged. …[/B][/B]
[B][B]"Mr. Putin … specifically denied trying to restore the Russian Empire. He argued Russia was compelled to intervene in Ukraine because that country was in the midst of a civilized dialogue' over its political future when the West staged a coup to oust the president last February, pushing the country into chaos and civil war.[/B][/B]
[B][B]"We did not start this,' he said. Statements that Russia is trying to reinstate some sort of empire, that it is encroaching on the sovereignty of its neighbors, are groundless.'"[/B][/B]
[B][B]Of course, all the "smart people" of Official Washington know how to react to such statements from Putin, with a snicker and a roll of the eyes. After all, they've been reading the narratives of these crises as fictionalized by the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc.[/B][/B]
[B][B]Rationality and realism seem to have lost any place in the workings of the mainstream U.S. news media.[/B][/B]