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It's official. President Obama is a diplomatic genius. What else can explain this fact: on Friday the White House announced that Russia will now allow up to ten flights a day through their airspace so the US military can more effectively wage war in Afghanistan.
Russia to Open Airspace to U.S. for Afghan War - NYTimes.com.
Wow! Russia and the US can both agree to bomb the hell out of Afghanistan. Such diplomacy. Such historical sweep. Such lunacy.
If only we had leaders in the US and Russia who were interested in diplomatic goals such as a more peaceful world. Instead, we have a slightly more stylish and charming version of Dubbya and Putin (well, Obama's more stylish and charming; Medvedev not so much). In fact, Obama's diplomacy in Russia is so similar to Dubbya's that the Russians are not really seeing the change.
Obama continues to anger not just the Russian leaders, but also many ordinary Russians with his continuation of Dubbya's insane star wars-style missile defense shield over Eastern Europe.
Obama is also making many Russians cranky by continuing Dubbya's habit of criticizing Russia's wars of Empire (in Georgia for instance) while waging his own. I
f the US wants to lead by example and tell the Russians to stay out of Georgia, Ukraine, and other former colonies, then Obama would have to end the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the continued talk of interference elsewhere.
It's that whole glass house thing. The Russians, both the politicians and the people, can hardly take the White House's calls for military restraint seriously given that Obama has continued pursuing these wars with such enthusiasm. If being able to fly over Russia to kill Afghanis is what Obama considers a major diplomatic victory, then he, like the Russians, believes diplomacy is not about making peace, but pursuing imperial interests.
Oh, and pursuing corporate interests as well. Obama has been trying to cut a deal to get Russia admitted into the World Trade Organization and if that works, then Obama's status as diplomat extradordinaire will be secure.
Meanwhile, real opportunities are being lost to lead by example. Sure, the US is a military Empire the likes of which the world has never seen, BUT we still have something like freedom of speech- unlike Russia, where such freedoms were never really established, and under Putin and his puppet Medvedev, are disappearing. According to
Oleg Kozlovsky, the Russian state recently increased state control over speech by controlling not just journalism, but history as well.
Russia now has its own little Ministry of Truth. Dmitry Medvedev issued the decree to create a new body with a long but meaningful name: the Presidential Commission for Prevention of Falsification of History to the Prejudice of Russia’s Interests. This Commission will monitor “attempts to falsify historical facts and events” that may undermine “the international prestige of the Russian Federation” and coordinate efforts of government institutions of “adequate response to… and neutralization” of such attempts.
Surely Obama could at least press the Russian government on freedom of speech issues (since here the US doesn't look like a giant hypocrite)? Admitedly, the US government has ignored the Constitution, regularly tortured prisoners held without trial, waged endless war without provocation, and generally behaved like a bully. But we the People also record all this with an unprecedented amount of freedom and multiplicity of media.
I suppose as long as Americans can talk about what's going on now and what has gone on in the past, we have something to celebrate this 4th of July. Not American militarism, Emprie, hypocricy, or corporations. But truth, justice, and the hope, however small, that being able to resist tyranny with a written declaration is possible.