Old Cold Warriors Never Die Brzezinski Compares Putin to Hitler

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.counterpunch.org/connolly08122008.html

August 12, 2008

Brzezinski Compares Putin to Hitler
Old Cold Warriors Never Die
By KATE CONNOLLY

Berlin.

The foreign policy adviser of US presidential candidate Barack Obama has called on the world community to isolate Russia in protest over its campaign in the Caucasus, likening its tactics to those of "Hitler or Stalin".

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was the national security adviser under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981, and is now advising the Democratic candidate, said the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, was "following a course that is horrifyingly similar to that taken by Stalin and Hitler in the 1930s".

He said that Putin's "justification" for splitting up Georgia - because of the Russian citizens living in South Ossetia - could be compared to when Hitler used the alleged suffering of ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland as a pretext for annexing Czechoslovakia in 1938.

In an interview with the conservative German daily Die Welt, he said even more striking were the parallels between Putin's strategy against Georgia and Stalin's invasion of Finland in 1939, describing both as "the undermining of the sovereignty of a small, democratic neighbouring state through the use of violence". He added: "Georgia is to an extent the Finland of today, both morally and strategically."

Polish-born Brezinski, 80, who earned a reputation as a hardliner due to his anti-Soviet politics, said the world was now being confronted with the question as to how it should react to Russia and what he saw as its efforts to "reincorporate old Soviet areas into the Kremlin's sphere of control". He said at the heart of the issue was access to oil and specifically who controlled the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which runs through Georgia.

"If Georgia no longer has its sovereignty it means not only that the west is cut off from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia, but we can also assume that Putin will exercise a similar strategy against Ukraine if he faces resistance. He's already publicly voiced threats against Ukraine."

[billyoc]

1. He's as senile as McAncient.

Were the Czechs ethnic cleansing the fucking Germans?

[nebenaube]

2. so

we have Hitler comparisons eh... Yes, we should consider how Hitler used the Reichstags Fire and the Enabling Act to seize power.

[provis99]

3. and Godwin's Law applies to ex-Carter employees now.

Why are our foreign policy "experts" so damn childish and ignorant?

[The Traveler]

4. "Old Cold Warriors Never Die" ... cuts both ways

Putin was a highly placed official (A.D.?) for the KGB. He is very much an old cold warrior. (Disclosure: I, also, am an old cold warrior. Aging sucks but it beats the alternatives.) Much of the Russian oligarchy was constructed around elements of the Soviet intelligence apparatus. Putin is no friend of human rights or civil liberties ... just ask Gary Kasparov. He is not cute. He is not on the side of justice.

And he is not Hitler or Stalin.

He is Vlad Putin ... and that means he is something else. Putin has no grand overarching political philosophy like Hitler and Stalin. Putin's support derives in large part through strong man tactics coupled with a resurgent Russian nationalism. He does not want to conquer the world or institute a thousand year regime. He does want power and economic growth and he is definitely wanting to play a leading role on the grand stage.

Because he is not a Hitler or Stalin, we should not reach into history to pull out the "we shoulda" lessons from that era. Rather, we should intelligent asess the current situation and the man himself and inform our strategy and policy accordingly. I think it pretty clear we have a problem here ... but making threats we cannot possibly back up is not a solution.

Georgia may wind up having to be another casualty of fucked up Bushista strategy, policy, and diplomacy. (Are these guys EVER not asleep at the switch?) If Europe wants to commit to a stand against this, maybe we could contribute to that. But we definitely don't need to be leading the charge or, worse yet, charging in alone. And at this point, everyone needs to exercise great caution with playing with live ammunition.