<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">FYI.<br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">"<a href="mailto:m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org">m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org">m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">September 18, 2012 11:53:22 PM CDT<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><<a href="mailto:ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org">ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>[ufpj-activist] Putin opens Benghazi door for Obama</b><br></span></div><br>
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<font size="3"> <br>
</font><font size="6"><b>Putin opens Benghazi door for Obama<br>
</b></font><b><font size="3">By M K Bhadrakumar <br><br>
</font></b><font size="3">At a time when the United States-Russia "reset" lies in
limbo, it should come as no surprise that President Vladimir Putin has
made one of the most important statements of his four-month-old
presidency, drawing attention to the commonality of interests between the
two major world powers and indeed between Russia and the West on one of
the hottest issues of current world politics - the Middle Eastern
question. <br><br>
Putin's statement on Thursday came in the nature of his reaction to the
terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the killing
of the American ambassador. Without doubt, it was a structured statement
- albeit couched as <i>ex tempore</i> remarks to the media - that amounts
to a dramatic call for Russia and the West to jointly mould the Arab
Spring in the right direction. <br><br>
The Kremlin statement stands apart from harsh Chinese comments, which
have been more in the nature of critical finger-pointing and
"I-told-you-so" homilies. To be sure, Moscow sees a window of
opportunity to bridge the dangerous hiatus that has appeared in the
respective positions of Russia and the West over such contentious issues
as Syria and Afghanistan - and Iran. <br><br>
Putin spoke at some length. He "condemned" the Libyan attack in
exceptionally strong terms, calling it a "terrible crime" that
lies "outside modern civilization". The vehemence of the
condemnation made it clear that Moscow will not strive to take advantage
of the US' predicament in Libya, although the two countries have profound
differences over the NATO's intervention in that country. <br><br>
Interestingly, Putin completely ignored the ground reality that it was
only the Western intervention that spawned the radical Islamist groups in
Libya, which have now come to hit at US interests. Obviously, Moscow
estimates that this tragic moment is inopportune to say harsh things or
even aim subtle barbs. <br><br>
<b>'We're all Americans' <br>
</b>Putin then went on to speak at length about the "many
differences of opinion" that Moscow has had in the recent years with
Washington over the "ways of resolving problems in troubled
countries." He said Russia too shares with the US the principles of
democracy and freedom and would agree with the US that there is a deficit
of democracy in "numerous political regimes". <br><br>
But the difference lies in the respective Russian and US approaches to
creating a better world. Moscow believes that these problems need to be
solved through peaceful negotiations so that the authoritarian regimes
can evolve in a positive direction that ensures social harmony at the
level of faiths, religions and ethnicity. Admittedly, this may be a
"difficult, painstaking process that requires patience and
professionalism", but there is no real alternative. <br><br>
The nearest that Putin came to obliquely touch on the Syrian crisis was
when he said Moscow cannot support the alternative course of regime
change through force and external intervention. If armed groups labeled
as "freedom fighters" are supported from the outside, "an
absolute deadlock" may result and the "region could descend
into chaos, which indeed, is what is already happening". <br><br>
Putin also had an indirect message for Egypt. Without mentioning
President Mohammed Morsi by name, Putin underscored that leaders like
Morsi who led the successor regimes bore "personal
responsibility" for "what is happening". Putin seemed to
echo the sense of disquiet in Washington that Morsi took well over 24
hours to make his first reaction - and that too, via Facebook - on the
mob attacks on the American embassy in Cairo. <br><br>
In historical terms, Putin has once again stood up and is allowing
himself to be counted as a friend - and potential ally - of the US at a
time of distress and emotional trauma in Washington. The previous such
occasion was 11 years ago in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York and
Washington. This trains the searchlight once again on Putin's political
agenda, which is to integrate Russia with the West but as an equal
partner with mutual respect and acknowledging its legitimate interests as
a great power - and the failure of successive US administrations to
recognize the raison d'etre of the Russian leader's policies. <br><br>
</font>In fact, Putin summed up Thursday's statement in a spirit of total
solidarity with President Barack Obama: <br>
<dl>
<dd>I really expect that this tragedy - this certainly is a tragedy, one
that, I want to stress, concerns all of us, as we and our Western
partners, including US partners, are combating terrorism together - I
really expect that this tragedy will motivate us all to intensify our
joint - I should emphasize the word joint - struggle against terrorism
and terrorist threats.<br><br>
</dd></dl>Clearly, Moscow has put out an important signal to the Western world
and to Obama in particular. What needs to be noted is that Putin has
certainly factored in the attack on Obama by his Republican opponent Mitt
Romney over the crisis of the Benghazi incident and has desisted from any
sort of direct criticism of US policies in the Middle East. <br><br>
Putin's statement naturally becomes the final word on the Russian
position on the issue of the setback to the US in the Middle East, no
matter what the media organs in Moscow may say. Equally, the salience
that cannot escape attention is that Moscow has taken a strikingly
different approach in comparison with the reaction from Beijing on the
Libyan terrorist attack. <br><br>
The Chinese foreign ministry has given a formal reaction expressing shock
and condemnation of the "violent deeds" and underscoring the
imperative to observe the norms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic
Relations. It was brief, crisply worded and very correct but devoid of
any empathy. <br><br>
A new stakeholder ... <br>
On the other hand, the leading Chinese dailies opened a virtual
broadside on the US policies in the Middle East, holding them responsible
for the tragedy on Monday. A signed article in the Global Times said:
<br>
<dl>
<dd>The assassination of the ambassador and his colleagues underscores
the bankruptcy of US foreign policy in the region. Washington's policy of
regime change in the region may well lead to an "Arab Winter"
... and the so-called pivot to Asia may stumble in the Middle East
quagmire. <br><br>
</dd><dd>Looking at the overall situation in the Middle East and North Africa,
it is becoming clear that the political trend is Islamist rather than
secular ... There are sharp contradictions in Washington's Middle East
policy. The policy of regime change in Syria aligned the US with
extremist Salafist and Wahhabi political and terrorist groups in the
region ... Some of these groups have links with Al Qaeda. <br><br>
</dd><dd>Calm and searching reflection are [sic] needed by Washington on its
Middle East policy ... Americans are reaping the tragic whirlwind and it
is time for a serious and searching reappraisal agonizing as it may be.
<br><br>
</dd></dl>In another commentary, Global Times pointed out: <br>
<dl>
<dd>Arabs demand the US respect their culture. But the cannon-loaded
warships will not serve that purpose. ... US warships can only generate
more hatred from the Islamic world ... Americans hold a deep sense of
cultural superiority. They see many other cultures as being marginal with
an exotic value. If other cultures stand against the West, they would be
labeled as bizarre and harmful. <br><br>
</dd><dd>Islamic culture is sensitive due to its relatively disadvantageous
position in the world. The world should respect their sentiments ...
Provocations against the Islamic faith have occurred repeatedly in the
West ... Americans must sincerely learn about other cultures. They should
be able to find the merits of other cultures, which have helped many
emerging countries develop rapidly ... Many people in the world are
restraining their discontent toward the US. Washington also needs to
exercise restraint to better communicate with other parts of the
world.<br><br>
</dd></dl>The Chinese reaction is partly at least motivated by its growing
anger at the US' containment strategy in the Asia-Pacific. Having said
that, the stunning geopolitical reality is also that China is steadily
becoming a stakeholder in the epochal changes taking place in the Middle
East, including the region's steady gravitation toward Islamism as the
dominant ideology. <br><br>
The dramatic choice made by Morsi to make first state visit to China
brought out that Beijing is meeting with success in positioning itself on
the "right side of history". The Chinese oil companies are
gaining a presence in Iraq's oil industry; China is mulling over the
prospects for making investments in Egypt (BP has just announced a US$10
billion investment to exploit Egypt's gas reserves); China has
wide-ranging relations with the Persian Gulf countries (both the Gulf
Cooperation Council states and Iran). Even the relations with Israel and
Turkey are on upward swing. <br><br>
... and a status quo-ist <br>
The competitive tone of the Chinese criticism of the US' Middle East
policies stands out. Russian regional policies, on the other hand, are
struggling uphill. Russia has to clear the backlog of ties with the Hosni
Mubarak regime in Egypt; its ties with Iran are complex and inchoate and
would have to disentangle forever from a painful past history;
contradictions exist in Russia-Israel ties (especially with Israel's
thrusts against Russian interests in the Caucasus and the Caspian and
Russia's alliance with Syria); its ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council
states, especially Saudi Arabia, are in doldrums. Suffice to say, Russia
is far from engaged in a competition with the US for creating a
"level playing field" for the future expansion of its regional
influence in the Middle East. <br><br>
Russia's concerns are principally as a status quo power. The Middle
Eastern revolutions do not suit Russian interests, even if they may,
arguably, lead to further weakening of the US' regional influence. The
Russian frustration is that the US does not realize that in actuality in
a long-term perspective the two countries could have shared interests and
concerns in the Middle East. <br><br>
Again, by no means can Russia view the rise of Islamism with the same
equanimity with which China is apparently addressing the historical
processes in the Middle East. Russia's "soft underbelly" lies
adjacent to the Middle East and is highly vulnerable to the winds of
radical Islamism. <br><br>
Also, China is willing to see the rise of Islamism in countries such as
Egypt in a broader cultural context of Arabism imbued with
"anti-Western sentiment" (to quote Global Times), which could
even provide a conducive setting for the future expansion of its
influence in the Middle East. <br><br>
Of course, both Russia and China abhor the ascendancy of the Salafist
fighters in the volatile situation in Libya or Syria. Both resent Western
intervention to force "regime change" in Middle East countries.
And for both, the sovereignty of independent states and the observance of
international law and respect for the territorial integrity become
sacrosanct principles that are intertwined with their national interests.
<br><br>
But what ultimately differentiates Putin's reaction from the Chinese
comments is that Moscow is probing for new thinking in Washington. Moscow
would visualize that the Obama administration has received a traumatic
shock in the past 72 hours and that may prompt a rethink if not a hard
appraisal of US policies. Specifically, in the current situation, Moscow
would hope for a new US approach on the Syrian crisis, where Russia has
high stakes. <br><br>
The Obama administration's policy on Syria is highly calibrated, stopping
short of intervention but relentlessly creating the momentum for regime
change in Damascus. Moscow would seek a fundamental course correction on
the part of the Obama administration. Moscow expects that Washington
would sit up, finally, and begin to comprehend that if Syria unravels, it
will be manifold more catastrophic than what the Libyan
"revolution" turned out to be in its aftermath. <br><br>
It is this expectation that Putin's statement has sought to convey to
Obama. The statement is intended as a signal to Obama at a moment when he
is most receptive to fresh thinking on the Middle East question. It
signals that if a window of opportunity arises for Russia to work
together with the US on a political transformation in Syria, that would
open up a new vista of possibilities in the UN Security Council, and, in
turn, even the flame of the Russia-US "reset" may begin to
shine again. <br><br>
The big question is whether the Obama administration will see things that
way. In 2001, George W Bush took Putin's support and then forgot about it
for the next seven years. <br><br>
Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar was a career diplomat in the Indian
Foreign Service. His assignments included the Soviet Union, South Korea,
Sri Lanka, Germany, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait and
Turkey. <br><br>
(Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved.
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