Vladimir Putin's article in New York Times about Syria

[M Ali Khan]

[FONT=&amp]A Plea for Caution From Russia: What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria[/FONT]
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Vladimir V. Putin | The New York Times | 11 Sep 2013[/FONT]

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[FONT=&amp]MOSCOW — Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.
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Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again. [/FONT]
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The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades. [/FONT]
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No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization. [/FONT]
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The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance. [/FONT]
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Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multi-religious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government.

The United States State Department has designated Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world. [/FONT]
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Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all. [/FONT]
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From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos.

The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression. [/FONT]
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No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored. [/FONT]
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It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.” [/FONT]
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But 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. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes. [/FONT]
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No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect. [/FONT]
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The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded. [/FONT]
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We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement. [/FONT]
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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. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action. [/FONT]
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I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations. [/FONT]
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If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues. [/FONT]
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My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.

There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal. [/FONT]
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Vladimir V. Putin is the president of Russia. [/FONT][FONT=&amp]A version of this op-ed appears in print on September 12, 2013, on page A31 of the New York edition with the headline: A Plea for Caution From Russia.[/FONT]
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& [/FONT]

 

[M Ali Khan]

 

[Synikmaster]

Nice and thoughful article and it shows how mature the russians are, not like americans dogs who want to dominate the world with his own style.

 

[Ahud1]

 

[Innocent person]

Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored

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Puppets of Israel(Assad and Bashar) had been ruling syria for more than 40 yrs.
Bt now mujahideen has ended the puppet show from syria and captured approx 70% of syria. Now the time is coming to give bamboo to Israel.

 

[Ahud1]

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[/COLOR]Puppets of Israel(Assad and Bashar) had been ruling syria for more than 40 yrs.
Bt now mujahideen has ended the puppet show from syria and captured approx 70% of syria. Now the time is coming to give bamboo to Israel.

Adhi baat qoute ker rehey hien Brother e islami is jumley ko bhi shamil ker lietey

"but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons,"

 

[Innocent person]

Adhi baat qoute ker rehey hien Brother e islami is jumley ko bhi shamil ker lietey

I never want to quote Russia,USA and other members of security counsel. But majority are under the influence of these fake super powers. It has become compulsion to give references of these chaudries.
Actually they are all one. Their motive to crush those Muslims who want to implement shariah in this world. They have no issues with those muslims who dont want shariah.
Only difference is that everyone has its own way to achieve their motive.
Russia and its allies want to strengthen Bashar
America and its allies want to remove Bashar by giving lollipop (government) to opposition parties who will be new puppets of Israel.
In both cases mujahideen will continue their struggle to impelement shariah. And paid muslim scholars will give fatwa against them by calling them KHARJIS.

 

[Lil'Genius]

"We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal." - Putin (clap)

My NABI (saww) indicated that Russia will be with HAQ.

 

[zhohaq]

Putin Oped in NYT in 1999 before launching Second Chechen war and levelling much of Grozny
Possibly 50,000 Chechens,Ingusht civilians were slaughtered.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/14/opinion/why-we-must-act.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

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Why We Must Act


By Vladimir Putin
Published: November 14, 1999






When President Clinton and I met in Oslo earlier this month, we discussed the situation in Chechnya. Accounts of that conversation in the American media, understandably, emphasized the president's warnings about the impact of Russia's military operations. Because we value our relations with the United States and care about Americans' perception of us, I want to explain our actions in clear terms.
To do so, I ask you to put aside for a moment the dramatic news reports from the Caucasus and imagine something more placid: ordinary New Yorkers or Washingtonians, asleep in their homes. Then, in a flash, hundreds perish in explosions at the Watergate, or at an apartment complex on Manhattan's West Side. Thousands are injured, some horribly disfigured. Panic engulfs a neighborhood, then a nation.
Russians do not have to imagine such a calamity. More than 300 of our citizens in Moscow and elsewhere suffered that fate earlier this year when bombs detonated by terrorists demolished five apartment blocks.

Consider another unthinkable scenario. A long simmering dispute between one of your states and your federal government causes political unrest in that state. Armed militias arise, similar to those found in your states of Montana and Idaho. Eventually, they are assisted by foreign adventurers with their own agenda who use that troubled region as a base to launch violent raids against a neighboring state. Lives and property are destroyed -- as a means of expanding the chaos.
Russians do not need to view the latest James Bond movie to see that macabre story unfold. Rather, we saw it in all-too-real life as guerrillas based in Chechnya mounted bloody raids on neighboring Dagestan. They forcibly occupied several communities, terrorizing the inhabitants. The stated goal was to establish an ''Islamic republic,'' an idea thoroughly alien to the vast majority of local citizens.
To Americans, these scenarios must seem rather far-fetched. The notion of armed guerrillas roaming through the countryside, intimidating citizens, is something to be found in bad movies or second-rate novels. Yet in the southern corner of my country, they are as real as the freshly turned cemetery plots that have chronicled the violence over the last several years.
No government can stand idly by when terrorism strikes. It is the solemn duty of all governments to protect their citizens from danger. Americans obviously understand this concept. When two United States embassies in Africa were blown up, American warplanes were soon dispatched to bomb suspected terrorist facilities in Sudan and Afghanistan. Americans also have had first-hand experience with religious fanaticism financed from overseas sources. The World Trade Center bombing in New York City was the sad result of such extremism.
Terrorism today knows no boundaries. Its purveyors collaborate with each other over vast distances. We know that a great deal of the violence emanating from Chechnya is financed from abroad.
The same terrorists who were associated with the bombing of America's embassies have a foothold in the Caucasus. We know that Shamil Basayev, the so-called Chechen warlord, gets assistance on the ground from an itinerant guerrilla leader with a dossier similar to that of Osama bin Laden. And one of your television networks recently reported that -- according to United States intelligence sources -- bin Laden himself is helping to finance the guerrillas.
We also know that most Chechens -- whatever their feelings about Russia -- are neither fanatics nor willing hosts to the extremists who seek to transform Chechnya into a killing field. No rational people desire their territory to become a permanent playground for murderers and kidnappers, even if the perpetrators cloak their cause in religion.
Reluctantly, we have intervened. Our immediate aim is to rid Chechnya of those who threaten the safety of Chechens and Russians. We also seek to restore civil society to the Chechen people, who have been victims of deprivation, living in the grip of armed criminal gangs for years.
American officials tell us that ordinary citizens are suffering, that our military tactics may increase that suffering. The very opposite is true. Our commanders have clear instructions to avoid casualties among the general population. We have nothing to gain by doing otherwise. The Chechen citizens, after all, are our citizens too. Our land and air forces strive to target only opposing armed forces. The whole reason we chose accurately targeted strikes on specifically identified terrorist bases was to avoid direct attacks on Chechen communities.
Exactly the same tactics were deployed during Operation Desert Storm, in the bombing of the former Yugoslavia and in the various Unites States attempts to strike back at the world's most wanted terrorist -- Osama bin Laden. Yet in the midst of war, even the most carefully planned military operations occasionally cause civilian casualties, and we deeply regret that.
Refugees fleeing the violence -- many of whom feared that the terrorists would try to use them as ''human shields'' -- have experienced hardship. However, confusion at border checkpoints that resulted primarily from the inexperience of local officials in dealing with difficulties of this nature has been resolved. People can now move in both directions.
Refugees still in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia are getting shelter, food and medical care. Many are returning home to areas firmly controlled by the Russian government. Our great task now is to rebuild infrastructure and social institutions that were degraded during several years of turmoil. We must reopen schools and hospitals. For years, federal payments intended for workers and pensioners have been diverted illegally. We will make sure that these funds go to the proper recipients. In brief, we are striving to replace strife and chaos with peace and normal life.
The antiterrorist campaign was forced upon us. Sadly, decisive armed intervention was the only way to prevent further casualties both within and far outside the borders of Chechnya, further suffering by so many people enslaved by terrorists. As the United States media frequently point out, we have other pressing challenges that demand our resources.
But when a society's core interests are besieged by violent elements, responsible leaders must respond. That is our purpose in Chechnya, and we are determined to see it through. The understanding of our friends abroad would be helpful.

Vladimir Putin is the prime minister of Russia.

 

[M Ali Khan]

Funny enough, 9/11 gave both Russia and China the PERFECT excuse to brutally suppress the agitations in their tense regions and calling them 'terrorism: North Caucasus (Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia) in Russia and Tibet+Sinkiang in China.

Same tactic was used by dictators in Syria, Libya, Egypt etc as well as Gulf states (and Iran) to suppress movements in their lands.

 

[zhohaq]

Funny enough, 9/11 gave both Russia and China the PERFECT excuse to brutally suppress the agitations in their tense regions and calling them 'terrorism: North Caucasus (Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia) in Russia and Tibet+Sinkiang in China.

Same tactic was used by dictators in Syria, Libya, Egypt etc as well as Gulf states (and Iran) to suppress movements in their lands.

I think Chomsky has also addressed this point .
911 has provided authoritarian regimes a new and compelling vocabulary of repression.
What were called by Russian press "Bandits" in Chechniya became "Terrorists","Islamists","Jihadists".

Also other useful phrases like collateral damage, enhanced interrogation, tororist sympathizer/network etc etc

Very effective in shutting down any rational thought process in the indoctrinated, like Crimestop.(1984 refrence)

You can add Pakistan to the list.

 

[Abdali]

Putin Steps Into World Leadership Role

Putin Steps Into World Leadership Role

By Paul Craig Roberts

September 12, 2013 "Salon'" - Putins article in the September 11 New York Times has the stuck pigs squealing. The squealing stuck pigs are just who you thought they would be--all those whose agendas and profits would be furthered by an attack on Syria by the obama Stasi regime.

Included among the squealing stuck pigs are Human Rights Watch bloggers who seem to be financed out of the CIAs back pocket.

Does any institution remain that has not been corrupted by Washingtons money?

Notice that the reason Putin is being criticized is that he has blocked the obama regime from attacking Syria and slaughtering countless numbers of Syrians in the name of human rights. The stuck pigs are outraged that obamas war has been blocked. They were so much looking forward to the mass slaughter that they believe would advance their profits and agendas.

Most of Putins critics are too intellectually challenged to comprehend that Putins brilliant and humane article has left Putin the leader of the free world and defender of the rule of law and exposed obama for what he is--the leader of a rogue, lawless, unaccountable government committed to lies and war crimes.

Putin, being diplomatic, was very careful in his criticism of obamas September 10 speech in which obama sought to justify Washingtons lawlessness in terms of American exceptionalism. Obama, attempting to lift his criminal regime by the bootstraps up into the moral heavens, claimed that United States government policy is what makes America different. Its what makes us exceptional.

What obama told Americans is exactly what Hitler told the Germans. The Russians, having borne more than anyone else the full weight of the German war machine, know how dangerous it is to encourage people to think of themselves as exceptional, unbound by law, the Geneva Conventions, the UN Security Council, and humane concerns for others. Putin reminded obama that God created us equal.

If Putin had wanted to give obama the full rebuke that obama deserves, Putin could have said: obama is correct that the policy of the US government is what makes the US exceptional. The US is the only country in the world that has attacked 8 countries in 12 years, murdering and dispossessing millions of Muslims all on the basis of lies. This is not an exceptionalism of which to be proud.

Putin is obviously more than a match for the immoral, low grade morons that Americans put into high office. However, Putin should not underestimate the mendacity of his enemies in Washington. Putin warned that the militants that Washington is breeding in the Middle East are an issue of deep concern. When these militants return to their own countries, they spread destabilization, as when extremists used by the US in the overthrow of Libya moved on to Mali.

The destabilization of other countries is precisely the main aim of Washingtons wars in the Middle East. Washington intends for radicalization of Muslims to spread strife into the Muslim populations of Russia and China. Washingtons propaganda machine will then turn these terrorists into freedom fighters against oppressive Russian and Chinese governments, and use Human Rights Watch and other organizations that Washington has penetrated and corrupted to denounce Russia and China for committing war crimes against freedom fighters. No doubt, chemical weapons attacks will be orchestrated, just as they have been in Syria.

If Washingtons NATO puppet states wake up in time, the warmongers in Washington can be isolated, and humanity could be spared WWIII.

 

[aka DURRANI]

Re: Putin Steps Into World Leadership Role

dekhtay hain article parh kar saudion ya muslims ko kon sab say pehlay bura bhala kehta hay... i hope no one should...

 

[aazad.mubassir]

Re: Putin Steps Into World Leadership Role

Putin reminded obama that God created us equal.

Now Obama might ask Putin: Which God? Your God? Or our God? Our God is surely with us in every campaign that we launch.

بالآخر یہ وقت بھی آگیا کہ اب عالمی تنازعات خدا حل کروایا کرے گا۔ اللہ میاں نے بھی خط پر کھل کر قہقہہ لگایا تو ہوگا۔ اب آیا اونٹ پہاڑ کے نیچے

دلچسپ یہ کہ اشتراکیت اور لادین ریاست کی جانب سے خط، بین الاقوامی تعلقات میں بالاخر خدا یاد دلایا جانے لگا۔ سپرپاور پر سپرپاور، خدا ہی ہے۔

 

[PakZindaBad1]

Re: Putin Steps Into World Leadership Role

Good article, lets hope we in Pak realize that (because we are slowly moving towards radicalism) any sort of extremism, religious or non, is lethal for any society, let alone a fragmented bunch we are in Pakistan and Afghanistan.