At least he kept his shirt on

Last night as I was watching The Rachel Maddow show she interrupted her planned topics to announce that  The New York Times posted an OP-ED written by Vladimir Putin.

My first reaction was to laugh. I got hung up on the last line where he says "We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal." With all of the news coming out of Russia about the anti-homosexual laws passed recently and the taint this puts on the Olympic Games and Russia not having the best track record on equality for its citizens I found this nervy for Putin to say.

But upon numerous rereads and a very useful discussion in class today I have come to the conclusion that hypocrisy doesn't mean there isn't merit to what he writes. It would be legitimate to say there is quite a bit of pot calling the kettle black here but that's no reason to dismiss the validity found within.

Just a couple of examples:

"A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction." This is true. It is preferable to have Assad willing to turn over his stock of chemical weapons and avoid military intervention. What Putin doesn't mention however is that he keeps using his country's veto to block the UN Security Council resolutions because he doesn't want there to be any military action if Assad doesn't comply. On the subject Rachel Maddow said "given Russia's history, celebrating the United Nations as the bedrock for global stability seems a little ironic. Besides, if Putin wants to protect the relevance and integrity of the U.N., perhaps he should be a little more responsible when it comes to abusing his veto power."

"force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day." Another good point. Iraq is a mess, we didn't have any clear idea of how to help get the country back on its feet and get out and ended up becoming unwelcome occupiers by even those (largely the Shiites) who were glad to have us come in and give them the chance at a voice in their country.


There is a high horse tone to the OP-ED that instead of helping may have the opposite result, turning people off to listening to the points that while yes are hypocritical are still correct.

But hey, at least we didn't need to look at him topless.