The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

During Soviet times an ideology, a particular socio-political belief system, cemented ties between Armenians and various communist peoples. In post Soviet times this ideological connection was lost as various formerly communist peoples discovered nationalism, religion and materialism. And this came at a time when western ideological movements such as democracy and capitalism (represented by its military wing NATO and its financial wing the IMF/WTO) were gaining in power and popularity in the region. Although there are some military and economic alliances in existence today amongst some eastern European nations, I think this is a good time to begin a new ideological/ethical/cultural movement that has its roots firmly in Orthodox Christianity. This theorized ideology, union of Orthodox nations, can potentially bring closer together various nations of region such as Russia, Serbia, Greece, Cyprus, Ukraine, Armenia, and why not, Georgia. I think such a new ideological movement would be essential in creating ties that can go past the current geostrategic and economic ones that exists.

Armenian

Putinism in the Balkans: The Russian president tries to recover another lost sphere of influence



RUSSIAN TYRANT-IN-WAITING Vladimir Putin's plan to restore a one-man dictatorship in Moscow has caused anxiety in the thin ranks of Russian liberals as well as among partisans of secure independence in the former Soviet republics. It should also stimulate concern in Europe, the United States, and the Far East, since it is clear that Putin desires recovery of Russian spheres of influence, temporarily lost with the collapse of communism. Mostly unnoticed, Putin has resorted to a weapon that served his absolutist predecessors: pan-Slavic ultranationalism with the pretext of solidarity among Christian Orthodox peoples. The sharp point of this blade is visible in the troubled ex-Yugoslav successor states. Russia is reestablishing itself as a regional power in the Balkans.

Putin and his cohort in the Russian business mafia have adopted Serbia as a surrogate, and continue to obstruct the full and legal independence of Kosovo. In Kosovo's neighbor Montenegro, which gained independence from Serbia last year, Putinite investors have bought up a considerable share of attractive beachfront properties, intending to revive the local tourist industry on a betting-and-brothel basis. Russian banking and other commercial operations are expanding in the so-called "Serb Republic" that occupies north and east Bosnia- Herzegovina. Twelve years after the Dayton agreement to stop the fighting in that mutilated country, the "Serb Republic" continues to rule almost two-thirds of Bosnian land.

Serbs use the continued existence of the Bosnian "Serb Republic" against U.S.-E.U. proposals for Kosovo independence. The arguments from Belgrade and Moscow are simple and brutal: if Kosovo becomes independent, the Bosnian "Serb Republic" will demand the same status. Meanwhile, the Serbs and Putin paint the Kosovo Albanians as potential al Qaeda recruits, with Serbian propaganda at home as well as inside the Beltway emphasizing that the Albanians are, in their majority, Muslim. This demographic fact is well known, but Kosovars and Albanians in general are not exclusively Muslim. And they have shown little propensity for Islamist ideology, notwithstanding Serb claims that independent Kosovo would become a "Muslim rogue state."

Catholics account for 10 to 15 percent in the Kosovo population of two million. Catholic churches are found in most larger (and some smaller) towns, and Catholics were victims of Serbian violence before and during the U.S.-led intervention of 1998-99. Catholic clergy and intellectuals possess influence among their co-ethnics far beyond what their numbers might suggest. It is not by accident that the main street in Prishtina, the Kosovo capital, was renamed after 1999 for Mother Teresa, an Albanian from neighboring Macedonia. And Albanians remain so non-sectarian in their national sentiments that even if the West were to abandon them to the Serbs, it is almost impossible to imagine them turning to radical Islam as a solution to their frustrations. Albanians want to be accepted as Europeans, and not viewed as Middle Eastern intruders in the continent.

Serbs and their sympathizers--including a lobby of former U.S. diplomats and functionaries--also threaten a serious upheaval if the Kosovo Albanians are granted complete freedom. The Serbs and their enablers warn belligerently that their defiance of Albanian majority rule will begin with seizure of the northern tip of Kosovo, which has a Serb majority as well as significant natural and other economic resources.

Russian meddling in this trouble zone is not mere posturing for the benefit of the Slav and other Orthodox publics. Russia is joined by China in using Kosovo as a foil. Beijing says it will use its U.N. Security Council veto to forestall a free Kosovo, because of its problems with Tibet and Eastern Turkestan, both regions where local non-Chinese claim their historic tenancy has been diluted by massive Chinese immigration and politico-economic domination. The Russo- Chinese anti-democratic pair in the U.N. is supported in their anti- Kosovo position by Spain, which cites nationalism among the Basques and Catalans as its worry.

Cyprus backs Serbia because of its own partitioning between Orthodox Greeks and Muslim Turks, and Slovakia also opposes Kosovo's liberation. Why Slovakia? The Slovaks have a considerable history as Russian pawns--they commandeered the process of repression in the former Czechoslovakia after the Soviet intervention of 1968. But their leaders additionally play on fears, among the Slav majority, of their Hungarian minority of some 10 percent.

To most Westerners, the fate of Kosovo is eclipsed by the challenges in Iraq and Iran. Amazingly, however, Washington policy gadflies claim that nation-building in the Balkans--including the disastrous division of Bosnia-Herzegovina--has succeeded and provides a fruitful example to be imitated in Baghdad. Bosnian Muslims as well as Croatians and Kosovar Albanians say otherwise--that their confidence that outside intervention would benefit them has vanished as they witness UN and EU incompetence or worse in dealing with them.

Failure to respond to Putin's intrigues in the Balkans will only encourage the new Russian imperialism elsewhere. Russia also blocks common international policies on Iran and Burma. Russian parliamentary elections will come on December 2, 2007, followed by the deadline for the U.N. negotiations on Kosovo December 10. U.S. policy must be consistent and principled, and must not give way in the face of Putin's machinations in Kosovo, lest a reinvigorated foreign offensive by Russia undermine the trend toward freedom in places far from, and far more prominent, than the small states of the former Yugoslavia.

Source: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Conten...4/237aemai.asp

[Merv]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Thank you for posting this article. It illustrates the factual errors and subjectivity in the reporting on Balkan events. I will try to identify the bias/lies:

Putinism in the Balkans: The Russian president tries to recover another lost sphere of influence



RUSSIAN TYRANT-IN-WAITING Vladimir Putin's plan to restore a one-man dictatorship in Moscow has caused anxiety in the thin ranks of Russian liberals as well as among partisans of secure independence in the former Soviet republics. It should also stimulate concern in Europe, the United States, and the Far East, since it is clear that Putin desires recovery of Russian spheres of influence, temporarily lost with the collapse of communism. Mostly unnoticed, Putin has resorted to a weapon that served his absolutist predecessors: pan-Slavic ultranationalism with the pretext of solidarity among Christian Orthodox peoples. The sharp point of this blade is visible in the troubled ex-Yugoslav successor states. Russia is reestablishing itself as a regional power in the Balkans.

Bias: Tyrant in waiting. One man dictatorship.
Lies: pan-Slavic ultranationalism. What exactly is "ultranationalism"? Fascism? They never define it but make it sound like a dirty word.

Putin and his cohort in the Russian business mafia have adopted Serbia as a surrogate, and continue to obstruct the full and legal independence of Kosovo. In Kosovo's neighbor Montenegro, which gained independence from Serbia last year, Putinite investors have bought up a considerable share of attractive beachfront properties, intending to revive the local tourist industry on a betting-and-brothel basis. Russian banking and other commercial operations are expanding in the so-called "Serb Republic" that occupies north and east Bosnia- Herzegovina. Twelve years after the Dayton agreement to stop the fighting in that mutilated country, the "Serb Republic" continues to rule almost two-thirds of Bosnian land.

Bias: There's nothing legal about Kosovo independence. The whole thing was illegal. Ripping off a country's territory against their consent is always illegal.

Lies: Montenegro was in a federation with Serbia in the state formerly called Yugoslavia and later Serbia & Montenegro. It therefore could not "gain independence from Serbia."

The Republika Srpska is not "so called" - it is a real entity established by the Dayton Accords, and it doesn't "occupy" any part of Bosnia - it is one of the integral entities of that country.

Finally, there is no reason to put Serb Republic in quotes: it really exists, regardless of Schwartz's personal wishes. It does not rule "almost two thirds of Bosnia's land" - it rules exactly 48% of Bosnia, less than half. So much for fact-checking.

Serbs use the continued existence of the Bosnian "Serb Republic" against U.S.-E.U. proposals for Kosovo independence. The arguments from Belgrade and Moscow are simple and brutal: if Kosovo becomes independent, the Bosnian "Serb Republic" will demand the same status. Meanwhile, the Serbs and Putin paint the Kosovo Albanians as potential al Qaeda recruits, with Serbian propaganda at home as well as inside the Beltway emphasizing that the Albanians are, in their majority, Muslim. This demographic fact is well known, but Kosovars and Albanians in general are not exclusively Muslim. And they have shown little propensity for Islamist ideology, notwithstanding Serb claims that independent Kosovo would become a "Muslim rogue state."

Bias: that is a a simple and logical conclusion, and there's nothing brtual about it.

Lies: Muslim Albanians have exhibited Islamist ties via their training and funding by Bin Laden and by their head-cutting techniques in perpetrating atrocities in Kosovo. This is well known.

Catholics account for 10 to 15 percent in the Kosovo population of two million. Catholic churches are found in most larger (and some smaller) towns, and Catholics were victims of Serbian violence before and during the U.S.-led intervention of 1998-99. Catholic clergy and intellectuals possess influence among their co-ethnics far beyond what their numbers might suggest. It is not by accident that the main street in Prishtina, the Kosovo capital, was renamed after 1999 for Mother Teresa, an Albanian from neighboring Macedonia. And Albanians remain so non-sectarian in their national sentiments that even if the West were to abandon them to the Serbs, it is almost impossible to imagine them turning to radical Islam as a solution to their frustrations. Albanians want to be accepted as Europeans, and not viewed as Middle Eastern intruders in the continent.

Lies: Catholics account for a mere ~5% of the Kosovo Albanian population (95% of Kosovo Albanians are Muslims), which is currently (due to ethnic cleansing and birth rate), ~90% of the Kosovo population. Therefore, Catholics can in no way be 10 or even 15% of Kosovo's population - perhaps they are 3%. And there's a Mother Teresa street because she's world-famous, not because she's Catholic.

Bias: Albanians will demonstrate their humanity when they stop raping girls in Switzerland, kidnapping people, stealing cars, sex-slave trading, narcotics trading, and running all the human slavery and brothels of the UK, Italy, Germany, etc.

Serbs and their sympathizers--including a lobby of former U.S. diplomats and functionaries--also threaten a serious upheaval if the Kosovo Albanians are granted complete freedom. The Serbs and their enablers warn belligerently that their defiance of Albanian majority rule will begin with seizure of the northern tip of Kosovo, which has a Serb majority as well as significant natural and other economic resources.

Bias: what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If Albanians in Kosovo can get independence from Serbia based on demographics, then Serbs in northern Kosovo (the majority), by the same principle, can get independence from Kosovo Albanian rule. Let's not be hypocrites here.

Russian meddling in this trouble zone is not mere posturing for the benefit of the Slav and other Orthodox publics. Russia is joined by China in using Kosovo as a foil. Beijing says it will use its U.N. Security Council veto to forestall a free Kosovo, because of its problems with Tibet and Eastern Turkestan, both regions where local non-Chinese claim their historic tenancy has been diluted by massive Chinese immigration and politico-economic domination. The Russo- Chinese anti-democratic pair in the U.N. is supported in their anti- Kosovo position by Spain, which cites nationalism among the Basques and Catalans as its worry.

Cyprus backs Serbia because of its own partitioning between Orthodox Greeks and Muslim Turks, and Slovakia also opposes Kosovo's liberation. Why Slovakia? The Slovaks have a considerable history as Russian pawns--they commandeered the process of repression in the former Czechoslovakia after the Soviet intervention of 1968. But their leaders additionally play on fears, among the Slav majority, of their Hungarian minority of some 10 percent.

To most Westerners, the fate of Kosovo is eclipsed by the challenges in Iraq and Iran. Amazingly, however, Washington policy gadflies claim that nation-building in the Balkans--including the disastrous division of Bosnia-Herzegovina--has succeeded and provides a fruitful example to be imitated in Baghdad. Bosnian Muslims as well as Croatians and Kosovar Albanians say otherwise--that their confidence that outside intervention would benefit them has vanished as they witness UN and EU incompetence or worse in dealing with them.

Failure to respond to Putin's intrigues in the Balkans will only encourage the new Russian imperialism elsewhere. Russia also blocks common international policies on Iran and Burma. Russian parliamentary elections will come on December 2, 2007, followed by the deadline for the U.N. negotiations on Kosovo December 10. U.S. policy must be consistent and principled, and must not give way in the face of Putin's machinations in Kosovo, lest a reinvigorated foreign offensive by Russia undermine the trend toward freedom in places far from, and far more prominent, than the small states of the former Yugoslavia.

Source: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Conten...4/237aemai.asp

It is obvious why countries that are not historic allies of Serbia, such as Spain and Slovakia, are against independence. Because it would give support to hundreds of ethnic independence movements around the world. And why not? Schwartz cannot put the dots together.

Sidenote: why are xxxish journalists so blindly hateful of Serbs, given the similarity of Serbia's position with Islamic fundamentalists in Bosnia and Kosovo, and Israel's with the Palestinians? And might I add the historical record is much more in favor of Serbia's stance than it is of Israel's. Either they're blind, or total hypocrites.

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Weekly Standard? The neo-con paper? No wonder the tone, but obviously they are very frustrated.

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Thank you for posting this article. It illustrates the factual errors and subjectivity in the reporting on Balkan events. I will try to identify the bias/lies:

That article is from the weekly standard. Its a neo-con paper.

This is on the Balkan related articles linked on the Project for a new American century website:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/balkans.htm

You can take a look at the authorship and find Kagan, Kristol, and the whole cohort of neo-con jooz. The bias and lies that you pointed out are in fact consistent with the source.

But what we should enjoy out of this, is their anger and frustration with the Russian Federation, and her ambitions.

Take a look at this page:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

Their plans evolved around the time of the drunkard Yeltsin, and when Russia had a very serious national debt and could easily be manipulated. Russia is a non-player if you look at this.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Sidenote: why are xxxish journalists so blindly hateful of Serbs, given the similarity of Serbia's position with Islamic fundamentalists in Bosnia and Kosovo, and Israel's with the Palestinians? And might I add the historical record is much more in favor of Serbia's stance than it is of Israel's. Either their blind, or total hypocrites.

Firstly, I strongly believe that Jooz and Israelis hate and fear Christians more than they hate and fear Muslims, and this has been the case historically. Nevertheless, the reasons why Jooz in general support Albanian/Bosnian Muslims in the Balkans is as follows, in my opinion: Israel's more than friendly relations with the "Turkic" from of Islam in the region; Israel's intention of undermining Christianity in a Christian Europe as it supports so-called "Christians" in Lebanon to undermine Islam in the Levant; Israel's fear of a future Russian Empire; Israel's natural desire to be in bed with western globalists that seek to destroy nationalism and Christianity; And Israel's burning desire to show the world that in reality it cares about Muslim peoples.

As you can see there are many geopolitical factors why Jooz today are so anti-Serbia.

[Merv]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Firstly, I strongly believe that Jooz and Israelis hate and fear Christians more than they hate and fear Muslims, and this has been the case historically. Nevertheless, the reasons why Jooz in general support Albanian/Bosnian Muslims in the Balkans is as follows, in my opinion: Israel's more than friendly relations with the "Turkic" from of Islam in the region; Israel's intention of undermining Christianity in a Christian Europe as it supports so-called "Christians" in Lebanon to undermine Islam in the Levant; Israel's fear of a future Russian Empire; Israel's natural desire to be in bed with western globalists that seek to destroy nationalism and Christianity; And Israel's burning desire to show the world that in reality it cares about Muslim peoples.

As you can see there are many geopolitical factors why Jooz today are so anti-Serbia.

Well, it's really ugly, because of all the Balkan countries during WWII, it is precisely Serbia and Greece that stand out as the most opposing the Nazis and the least collaborative in the Holocaust (Bulgaria was a Nazi ally but did not kill its xxxs either). Greeks manufactured baptismal certificates for xxxs, and the Serbian Orthodox patriarch was deported to Dachau. Not to mention that Serbs were being exterminated in Nazi-allied Croatia in the Jasenovac death camp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenov...entration_camp. The xxxs know this:

"The crimes of the fascist Ustashe against the Serbs in the notorious camp of Jasenovac must be known - crimes that are the worst ones along with those committed against the xxxs in the Holocaust." - Simon Wiesenthal.

Wiesenthal's website: http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenth...34/t03448.html

JASENOVAC: The largest concentration and extermination camp in Croatia. It was set up in 1941 and functioned until 1945.Some 600,000 people were murdered there. In 1945, the remaining prisoners were killed and the camp was blown up to hide the evidence of mass murder.

Meanwhile, the Croats had their Ustashe (fascists), the Muslims had TWO SS Divisions:

SS Kama: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23rd_Wa...of_the_SS_Kama

SS Handzar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Wa...st_Croatian%29

The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II. It was the largest of the SS divisions, with 21,065 men at its peak[citation needed], composed almost entirely of non-German Muslim and Catholic recruits drawn from Bosnia. Handschar (Bosnian/Croatian: Handžar) was the local word for the Turkish scimitar (Arabic: Khanjar خنجر), a historical symbol of Bosnia and Islam. An image of the Handschar adorned the division's flag and coat of arms.

The Kosovo Albanians had their own SS division, SS Skanderbeg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Wa..._(1st_Albanian)

The 21st SS Division Skanderbeg was a Waffen SS Mountain division created by Heinrich Himmler in March, 1944, made up primarily of "Kosovars", Kosovo Albanian Muslims, officially under the title of the 21st Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Skanderbeg (Albanische Nr. 1). Himmler responded to a letter written to him by Kosovar Albanian Muslim leader, Bedri Pejani, who asked Himmler to create a "Kosovar" Albanian Muslim SS Division as the army for a "Kosova" as part of a Greater Albania. It was named after George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, meaning in Turkish, Alexander the Great Beg or Master, the national hero of Albanians who resisted Ottoman invasion for 25 years, and united Albanian princes under one national banner. Skanderbeg was originally a Muslim but switched religions and switched sides against his former masters, the Muslim Ottoman Turks

This kind of backstabbing attitude by the influential figures in the xxxish community (Wiesel, Lantos, Albright, Finkielkraut, Soros, Feinstein, etc.) is therefore quite shocking and disgusting.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Well, it's really ugly, because of all the Balkan countries during WWII, it is precisely Serbia and Greece that stand out as the most opposing the Nazis and the least collaborative in the Holocaust (Bulgaria was a Nazi ally but did not kill its xxxs either). Greeks manufactured baptismal certificates for xxxs, and the Serbian Orthodox patriarch was deported to Dachau. Not to mention that Serbs were being exterminated in Nazi-allied Croatia in the Jasenovac death camp:...

Yes, I agree with everything you stated, but what does all this it have to do with current geopolitics and Israel's national interests?

[Merv]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Yes, I agree with everything you stated, but what does all this it have to do with current geopolitics and Israel's national interests?

You're right. It doesn't. But it really highlights the fact that countries don't have friends, only interests. Sometimes we'd hope that this or that country could rise above it, that loyalty could exist between countries, as between individuals, but I guess it's never been the case.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

You're right. It doesn't. But it really highlights the fact that countries don't have friends, only interests.

I think it was Churchill that said: We don't have friends, we don't have enemies, we have interests.

Sometimes we'd hope that this or that country could rise above it, that loyalty could exist between countries, as between individuals, but I guess it's never been the case.

Exactly, it has never been the case so why put hope in something that has never existed other than in your personal wishes?

Now, without getting into verbal gymnastics as to which came first Jooish extremism or Antisemitism; had I been a Joo, I would do <<everything>> in my power to ensure my survival in a hostile environment. However, survival for them means destruction for others. And that, in essence, is where the problem lies.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Who Restarted the Cold War?



By Patrick Buchanan

"Putin's Hostile Course," the lead editorial in The Washington Times of Oct. 18, began thus: "Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit Moscow is just the latest sign that, more than 16 years after the collapse of Soviet communism, Moscow is gravitating toward Cold War behavior. The old Soviet obsession — fighting American imperialism — remains undiluted. ... "(A)t virtually every turn, Mr. Putin and the Russian leadership appear to be doing their best in ways large and small to marginalize and embarrass the United States and undercut U.S. foreign policy interests."

The Times pointed to Putin's snub of Robert Gates and Condi Rice by having them cool their heels for 40 minutes before a meeting. Then came a press briefing where Putin implied Russia may renounce the Reagan-Gorbachev INF treaty, which removed all U.S. and Soviet medium-range missiles from Europe, and threatened to pull out of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, whereby Russia moved its tanks and troops far from the borders of Eastern Europe. On and on the Times indictment went. Russia was blocking new sanctions on Iran. Russia was selling anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Russia was selling weapons to Syria that found their way to Hezbollah and Hamas. Russia and Iran were talking up an OPEC-style natural gas cartel. All this, said the Times, calls to mind "Soviet-era behavior."

Missing from the prosecution's case, however, was the motive. Why has Putin's Russia turned hostile? Why is Putin mending fences with China, Iran and Syria? Why is Putin sending Bear bombers to the edge of American airspace? Why has Russia turned against America? For Putin's approval rating is three times that of George Bush. Who restarted the Cold War? To answer that question, let us go back those 16 years.

What happened in 1991 and 1992?

Well, Russia let the Berlin Wall be torn down and its satellite states be voted or thrown out of power across Eastern Europe. Russia agreed to pull the Red Army all the way back inside its border. Russia agreed to let the Soviet Union dissolve into 15 nations. The Communist Party agreed to share power and let itself be voted out. Russia embraced freedom and American-style capitalism, and invited Americans in to show them how it was done. Russia did not use its veto in the Security Council to block the U.S. war to drive Saddam Hussein, an ally, out of Kuwait. When 9-11 struck, Putin gave his blessing to U.S. troops using former republics as bases for the U.S. invasion.

What was Moscow's reward for its pro-America policy?

The United States began moving NATO into Eastern Europe and then into former Soviet republics. Six ex-Warsaw Pact nations are now NATO allies, as are three ex-republics of the Soviet Union. NATO expansionists have not given up on bringing Ukraine, united to Russia for centuries, or Georgia, Stalin's birthplace, into NATO. In 1999, the United States bombed Serbia, which has long looked to Mother Russia for protection, for 78 days, though the Serbs' sole crime was to fight to hold their cradle province of Kosovo, as President Lincoln fought to hold onto the American South. Now America is supporting the severing of Kosovo from Serbia and creation of a new Islamic state in the Balkans, over Moscow's protest. While Moscow removed its military bases from Cuba and all over the Third World, we have sought permanent military bases in Russia's backyard of Central Asia. We dissolved the Nixon-Brezhnev ABM treaty and announced we would put a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Under presidents Clinton and Bush, the United States financed a pipeline for Caspian Sea oil to transit Azerbaijan and Georgia to the Black Sea and Turkey, cutting Russia out of the action.

With the end of the Cold War, the KGB was abolished and the Comintern disappeared. But the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House and other Cold War agencies, funded with tens of millions in tax-exempt and tax dollars, engineered the ouster of pro-Russian regimes in Serbia, Ukraine and Georgia, and sought the ouster of the regime in Minsk. At the Cold War's end, the United States was given one of the great opportunities of history: to embrace Russia, largest nation on earth, as partner, friend, ally. Our mutual interests meshed almost perfectly. There was no ideological, territorial, historic or economic quarrel between us, once communist ideology was interred.

We blew it.

We moved NATO onto Russia's front porch, ignored her valid interests and concerns, and, with our "indispensable-nation" arrogance, treated her as a defeated power, as France treated Weimar Germany after Versailles. Who restarted the Cold War? Bush and the braying hegemonists he brought with him to power. Great empires and tiny minds go ill together. To find out more about Patrick Buchanan, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20071019/...pbux/op_334141