Bush vs. Putin: What a Difference!
Judging President Bush unfavorably in comparison with President Putin, this editorial from Russia's Pravda starts off comparing speeches of the two world leaders, and then rapidly settles into a scathing critique of the 'Bush Regime.' Apparently, Syria, Zimbabwe, Iran and Burma are much better global citizens than Washington can credibly claim to be.
EDITORIAL
February 1, 2006
Pravda - Original Article (English) 
On one side, a President preaches pragmatism and harmony in
international relations, showing a track record on domestic policy that is
second to none. In the opposite camp, there was more Bushspeak in the State of
the Union address, which has become a masturbatory practice aimed at producing
a mass collective orgasm of self-righteousness.
The key elements of President Putin's discourse on Tuesday morning
were the respect for international law, non-discriminatory international
relations, honoring the territorial integrity of fellow members of the
international community, and a domestic policy based on responsibility,
pragmatism and competence.
Some key words from George Bush's State of the Union address on January 31
were "rage," "enemies," "battlefield," "hatred"
and "fear," five key words which ably summarize the policies of the
Bush regime.
One might expect a President of the United States of America to
focus his State of the Union speech on well … the state of the union. Not so for Bush,
who took just a few seconds to launch into a misguided discourse about how
important America's "leadership"
of the international community is to defending the nation.
By stating this, George Bush pits his country against - and not
with - the international community, because this community is based on
the notion of maintaining brotherly relations as equals. No one has requested a
bullying Big Brother to "lead" them.
Not surprisingly, practically the first utterance of his speech
was about September 11th, 2001. Beyond this outrage against humanity, there was
no mention of the thousands of innocent civilians in other countries murdered
by the armed forces of Commander-in-Chief George Bush; no mention of the military targeting
of civilian infrastructure; no mention of the widespread practice of torture; the
concentration camps; the disrespect for international law.
Instead, what we get from George Bush are absurd, puerile
statements such as: "At the start of 2006, more than half the people of
our world live in democratic nations. And we do not forget the other half - in
places like Syria, Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran ..."
For Mr. Bush's information, "places like" Iran don't set
up concentration camps in foreign lands, "places like" North Korea
don't invade sovereign nations outside the auspices of international law, "places
like" Syria do not use weapons of mass destruction against civilians, "places
like" Zimbabwe do not lie at the U.N. and "places like" Burma (The
Myanmar Republic for those who know what they're talking about) don't invade
their neighbors, wire up people's testicles with electrodes, sodomize prisoners
or set dogs on them.
If this is what can be called spreading freedom and democracy
to protect the good people of the United States, and that Americans voted
for such practices, then the Bush regime has created a chasm between Americans
and the rest of the world. Let us describe this policy accurately, and for what
it is: It is a unilateral policy of aggression which purports to set the United
States of America above the rest of the international community, in a position
where Washington does what it likes, when it likes and as it likes, siphoning
off or controlling the world's resources for its own benefit.
This is not a discussion among equals, all loved and respected
members of any community. It is the discourse of a pariah state, one whose
arrogance and self-righteousness long ago clouded its vision and which will
eventually lead to its downfall.
A fitting epitaph to the Bush regime is the fact that many Latin
Americans are striving to create the awareness in the international community
that being "American" is not the same as being from the United States.
After sullying the name of his own country, after lying to his
people and the international community, after disrespecting international law,
George W. Bush has managed to make hundreds of millions of people ashamed to
call themselves "Americans."
