Speaking at the Munich Conference on Security Policy today, Russian President, Valdimir Putin, apparently got the news media in a lather. Unfortunately, as I write this Putin's speech is not available in English; only Russian. Certainly, we must pay very close attention to even the slightest nuance of negativity from the Russian President. But, I think in this case the media is over-reacting.
The tagline of the conference is Peace through Dialogue. It was an appropriate place to provoke an intense discussion. You can read what stirred everyone here. I can understand what the fuss is about, but I urge us all to listen in this case and keep our mouth's shut for a moment. This goes for you Senator's McCain and Lieberman.
According to the BBC (light years ahead of CNN and most everyone else as usual), Mr Putin's spokesman Dimitry Peskov said the speech was "not about confrontation, it's an invitation to think." And think we should. President Putin's ruminations on American policy is something we should all be turning a keen ear to. For example, I can imagine why Russia would be concerned with our intentions and our actions. I am not convinced that the world is safer. Is anyone? If so, then that's another subject to debate at another time. I am only speaking for myself now. I don't feel safer since 9/11. Why should the Russians?
In an interview with National Interest, Peskov had this to say about one of our arch-enemies, Iran, "We are the last country in this world that would want to have a nuclear weapon at its southern borders. Let’s not forget that the problem of a potentially nuclear Iran is much more vivid for us than for some other remote countries." It seems pretty obvious that the regions closest to Russia are not stable. Of course, many have never been.
The brinksmanship between Washington and Tehran has done nothing to calm Russian nerves, apparently. If we listen carefully, Russia's president may be asking us to be the "bigger man" here and stop the threats we are lobbing in Iran's direction. Our brothers in Israel should also button it. Anyone who is watching closely can see that Iran is blowing smoke. If I were Iran, I'd be doing the same thing. With America staring coldy in my direction twirling a pistol, what do any of us expect?
Because we don't have a translation of the speech, we don't know right now what other nuanced issues Mr. Putin raised. Even if he did not mention the other key reasons for global instability like poverty, illiteracy and global communications making the gulf between the haves and have nots seem wider than at any point in history, the speech should be judged in total.
Mr. Putin, apparently the Western media is spoiling to spark a debate. They are right to do this. The floor is now yours again. Some of us are going to do the best way can to listen to what you have to say. If you aren't focusing some of your energy on other issues out of American control, we may not be so eager to listen next time. I'll keep an open mind in the meantime.
