#12 - RW 267
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
July 29, 2003
REPLACEMENT OF REGIMES IN THE LIGHT OF THE IRAQ HANGOVER
Demoralization of global politics only helps international terrorism
Author: Alexei Bogaturov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

A WORLD ORDER BASED ON FREEDOM FROM ANY AND ALL RESTRICTIONS IS SORDID AND UNRELIABLE. AMERICA'S AMBIGUOUS "VICTORY" IN IRAQ HAS INTRODUCED INTO THE INTSPHERE THE FEELING OF UNUSUAL CALM THAT ALWAYS PRECEDES A STORM.

US policy of permissiveness leads to demoralization of international politics

Two Democratic Party members in the United States recently asked me what I thought about the strategy of replacing regimes. I was at a loss for words for a moment. The meeting was purely informal. I did not want to tell the Americans anything unpleasant, but neither did I want to shower them with praise. This was probably just the reaction they expected, because the Americans laughed and explained: "No, you got it wrong. We want to know what you think of replacing the Bush regime in the United States." It was my turn to laugh. The Democratic Party is sparing neither time nor effort to compile evidence and arguments for an all-out attack on the Republicans. Those in the know claim that the leaks about disinformation (either intelligence agencies misinformed the president, or he misinformed the nation - it doesn't matter) on the subject of Iraq are just the tip of the iceberg of compromising materials already compiled by the Democrats. After all, the presidential election in America is coming up fast.

The Kremlin does not comment on the scandals, but is evidently happy in a quiet and unobtrusive way. Let it be; this is understandable. What is more revealing is that the British-American deception has not stirred public opinion in Russia: either because the Kremlin controls the media, or because the media has not found it worthy of reporting.

Cynicism is as fatal in politics as in private life.

Leaders of the United States and Britain - two of the most prominent leaders in the West - have been exposed as participants in at least spreading lies, if not in lying outright. This is a malady typical of all regimes, from democratic to the most despicably authoritarian. Political expediency devours morals, and the law consumes ethics - neither Bush nor Blair are legally guilty. The law is on their side. This is as apparent as the fact that even in the West, no one doubts that both leaders and the laws themselves are deceptive. Individually, each of them operated within the framework of the law, but together they tricked their national parliaments into voting to go to war.

The deed is done, the battle won. Success is never condemned. Some state officials will be dismissed, others transferred (for a time; and afterwards they will be duly thanked for their part in the cover-up job). Only the naive would believe that the CIA director misled the US president. He is taking the fall in order to leave his patron with a clean slate, that's all. It is clear that no one will be foolhardy enough to try to topple Bush. Clinton fooled around with Monica Lewinsky and got off the hook. The US Administration saw this as an indication that the limits of what is permitted have expanded somewhat.

Are these merely ivory tower theories? Hardly. This assumption is supported by the development of Russian-American relations. Moscow found what it thought was a convenient diplomatic formula: "non- acceptance of the occupation" of Iraq. The Russian Embassy in Baghdad remains an embassy to the non-existent government of Iraq, but Moscow does not have a representative accredited with the American governor general. The Americans saw through the deception, and told the world that the Russian mission in Baghdad was not an embassy and no one would ensure its security. A message: expect trouble, gentlemen. If you want to spare yourselves trouble, give us Saddam Hussein's whereabouts and any other interesting information you may possess. US Ambassador Vershbow openly offered a deal: Saddam Hussein in return for security of the Russian embassy. Everything was impeccable from the legal point of view, and thoroughly expedient from the political point of view. Everything was all right - if cynicism is the norm.

The Iraq war was the first step to the demoralization of global politics. This is a trends that smacks of international terrorism, because terrorism is also a stranger to morals: it relieves the murderer of all restrictions, permitting him everything for the sake of the cause. A world order based on freedom from any and all restrictions is sordid and unreliable. America's ambiguous "victory" in Iraq has introduced into the international atmosphere the feeling of unusual calm that always precedes a storm.

CDI Russia Weekly #267 ~ Contents  •  Next