Daily Globe British Values, Global Perspective
Here is a very interesting article from Vladimir Putin. It is interesting even if only that it was by the President of Russia himself & published in an American paper. His arguments, if they are true, are fairly compelling. However, I think he is not being forthright about Russia’s involvement in supplying weapons to the Assad regime. I further think it is laughable that a man who has helped destroy democracy in Russia would be concerned about the loss of it globally. Nevertheless, it is a thought provoking article and weird to read on 9/11.
I feel like (to re-apply what Secretary Dulles said about Britain in the 60s) America is a nation that won two world wars and a cold war (with help of course) and have yet to find a new role in the world. The barbaric acts of Islamic extremists against us on 11 September 2001 we thought showed our new purpose in the world. However, 12 years later we are realizing the 9/11 attacks turned out not to be another mission but a horrendous criminal act by religious lunatics. This article by Putin shows (to me) that the world has returned to the “normalcy” of non-ideological powers acting similar to what the great powers did in the world from the end of the Napoleonic War to World War I.
I wonder if America can function in a “reality-drenched” world defined in shades of gray. It is so used to slaying monsters that not having a clear cut evil enemy, not having a good and evil, is mucking up America’s traditional “triumphalist” culture. I feel like Britain too is in a period of transition. Great Britain has slayed dragons, ranging from Philip II to Louis XIV, to Napoleon to Imperial Germany and then with the aid of the United States Nazi Germany and the USSR. Great Britain does have a generally more pragmatic streak in their foreign policy than the US traditionally but Britain too is in a state of foreign policy confusion. Their closest ally the US seems weak, purposeless and confused with a President who has an anti-British streak. The EU is troubled economically, bureaucratically bloated and is weakening by the day in foreign policy relevancy. And it has been a long time since Britain had an Empire and acted without close alliances. The Commonwealth could be a future alliance Britain could join, especially if the nation leaves the EU in 2017. However, the lines of alliance and mission are blurred.
Putin’s article to me speaks of the world in 2013, a world our country is still trying to figure out.
