Putin Writes to America in The New York Times

((in case you missed this novel approach, read about it here--alexis))

In an unprecedented move, Russian President Vladimir Putin reached across an ocean to Americans and our political leaders in The New York Times “A Plea for Caution From Russia” yesterday. Putin argues that the evidence shows Syrian rebels used the chemical weapons our President claims Syria’s Bashar al-Assad targeted his people with in August, therefore, we should not support U.S. military action in Syria. Putin lays out all the ramifications of such a hasty action:

“The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa.” 

Putin goes on to point out our foreign policy of military intervention in other countries’ internal conflict is ‘alarming’:

“Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.’”

With conflicts are still raging in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Egypt, not to mention the U.S. policy of regularly drone striking targets (and innocent people) in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and Afghanistan, one has to carefully consider that Putin makes a good point here.

In fact, readers in the NYT comments section for Putin’s editorial found themselves thrown for a loop by his thoughtful words. One commenter started out by claiming Putin’s assertion that the rebels used the gas was specious but went on to say, “Much of this post is thought provoking and has a tone of reasonableness that I find disturbing to my prejudices. What a crazy world we are living in when Russia sounds more sane and responsible than our own government on a serious international crisis. It’s as if I have blundered into some bizarre parallel universe.

”The bigger question many are missing here is why does America continue to get involved in the internal conflicts of nations around the world? Is America really the world police? Why? Can we really claim that our actions are justified or have “helped” the nations we have intervened in? Is “humanitarian intervention” and the resultant regime change actually masking our nation’s ultimate goal of empire building and world domination? 

read the whole story here...
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/putin-writes-to-america