General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Who's wreaked more international havoc lately? US or Russia? [View all]politicman
(710 posts)Let me start by saying that I cannot stand Putin as much as I couldn't stand Bush.
OK now I have that out of the way, lets get some perspective here shall we:
What has Putin done in this particular issue with Crimea:
1) He inserted troops into Crimea under the pre-text of protecting Russian speaking population there.
2) After controlling Crimea, he instituted a 'vote' for the people to decide whether they wanted to join Russia or not.
3) With his troops there, the vote was always going to be favourable to his country.
(Note: all this was done with no one shot being fired, not one person being killed, only the suspicion that anyone that opposes the vote might mysteriously disappear.)
Now lets see what the Bush did in Iraq:
1) He inserted troops into Iraq under the pre-text of weapons of mass destruction.
2) After bombing Iraq into the stone age, Bush installed first an occupying power and then later a governing council that instituted a 'vote' to decide who becomes the government of Iraq.
3) With U.s Troops there and actively engaging in ongoing fighting in the country, the vote was always going to be favourable to the U.S.
(Note: all this was done whilst U.S troops were still shooting and bombing areas of the country, people were labelled 'terrorists' if critical of the process, and the whole process was policed by U.S troops and contractors who would never allow an anti-U.S government to be elected whilst they were still in the country).
Now, lets recap, Putin sent troops to Crimea and held a vote under influence of his troops, Bush sent a whole army into Iraq, bombed the heck out of it and held a vote whilst his troops were still killing Iraqis nationwide.
Many of you may say that just because Bush did it, that Putin is not justified in doing it to, and I agree with you. The problem is that you cannot have one nation guilty of something then turn around and lecture another nation for doing the very thing that the first nation did.