Why is it a "good thing" to have shitty, fourth-rate, Thug Capital as a counterweight to American power? Iran is a counterweight to American power. Hizbullah is a counterweight to American power. Saudi Arabian Wahabiism is a counterweight to American power. Al-Qaeda has been an exceptional counterweight to American power - managing with a very small force to tempt America into conflicts that have splayed the American military open across the Middle East and Central Asia.
Hell, the success of Al-Qaeda's strategy to tempt Bush into disaster is arguably what opened this opportunity up for Russia in the first place.
Are Al-Qaeda, Hizbullah, Iranian and Sunni Islamist regimes a "good thing"? If the Wal-Mart Republic of China is a "good thing" is their client "kingdom" in North Korea a "good thing"? I thought socialism was a good thing - not Islamism, Walmartism and People's kingdomism- not to mention petro-statism.
There are people who oppose American power for the right reasons and there are people who oppose American power for the wrong reasons and it is essential to sort out who is who because their reasons predict their actions. I think that's just basic.
Tell me that someone opposes American power and you've told me nothing. Why and what do they want to do with it.
Just because you and I aren't satisfied with the U.S. and Western Europe doesn't mean we should support every asshole who comes around and opposes them - tempting as that may be.
My question is and will always remain this: what provides the best and fastest path for people to get to a good, modern, free, just and enligthened socialism?
If you think the best path for South Ossetians and Georgians to get there is through Putin, I just think that's crazy talk. I'm sorry to say it, but I have no idea where the hell you're coming from on this relative to the values folks have known you for for years and years.
peace,
boddi
On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 11:33 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Aug 18, 2008, at 2:13 PM, boddi satva wrote:
>
>> I'm gathering that people here see Vladimir Putin's Russia as some
>> kind of counterweight to Capital.
>
> No one here has said anything like that. In fact, I'm guessing most think
> that Russia is a more or less capitalist country. The only virtue to a
> resurgent Russia - aside from the fact that it's made most Russians better
> off than they were during the 1990s, when they were run by Clinton, Harvard,
> and the IMF via Yeltsin - is that it offers a counterweight to U.S. imperial
> power. The U.S. had it easy in the 1990s. Now with Russia - not to mention
> China - it can't have its way anymore. Which is, on balance, a good thing.
>
> Doug