Not that I think anyone should base their vote on what the leader of any foreign country believes, but I thought it was interesting that the leader of a country that was very much opposed to the war in Iraq would have this opinion/reasoning. Putin urges voters to back Bush By CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty Monday, October 18, 2004 Posted: 7:08 AM EDT (1108 GMT) Putin says terrorists want to inflict "maximum damage to Bush." MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says terrorist attacks in Iraq are aimed at preventing the re-election of U.S. President George W. Bush and that a Bush defeat "could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world." Putin, speaking Central Asian Cooperation Organization summit in Tajikistan Monday, made his most overt comments of support so far for the re-election of Bush for a second term. "Any unbiased observer understands that attacks of international terrorist organizations in Iraq, especially nowadays, are targeted not only and not so much against the international coalition as against President Bush," Putin said. "International terrorists have set as their goal inflicting the maximum damage to Bush, to prevent his election to a second term. "If they succeed in doing that, they will celebrate a victory over America and over the entire anti-terror coalition," Putin said. "In that case, this would give an additional impulse to international terrorists and to their activities, and could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world." Putin noted that American voters will not decide the election just on Iraq. "Because of this we must take a realistic approach and be prepared for any development of events," he said. "We respect any choice the American people will make." President Putin made it clear Russia remained opposed to the war in Iraq. "Today, our views on that differ from the views of President Bush," he said.
Putin who has weakened democracy in his own country isn't a real ringing endorsement for either candidate. Hopefully whoever wins can help guide our ally back on the path to just democracy and freedom.
Am I reading this wrong? Because it looks like Putin wants Bush to still be President because more terrorists will attack us rather than him or anybody else. Vote Bush, terrorists will attack us more! Thanks for your concern, Putin, with friends like you....
Well, we saw a German tilt towards Kerry... now, we have a Russian tilt towards Bush. Putin is busy creating a caricature of a democracy, by stomping on the press, and anyone in big business who opposes him. He is getting rid of rights all over the place in Russia. Does Putin endorsing Bush make Republicans here feel warm and fuzzy? I'm curious. Keep D&D Civil!!
I agree ... I would hope that no one would base their opinion on the fact that any foreign leader supports either candidate. I just found this interesting considering where it was coming from.
It's definitely interesting, and I think the opinion of foreign leaders is always worthwhile reading and something to be investigated into regarding elections. Sometimes a foreign leaders endorsement is a blessing, sometimes a curse, and sometimes somewhere in between.
I read it completely different from you .. I think Putin believes that the terrorists are attacking as much as they can right now to try and decrease support for Bush. His fear is that if Bush loses, it tells the Terrorists that they can control foreign elections. It sounds like he thinks America backing down and not supporting Bush would be similar to negotiating with terrorists by giving them what they want, thus creating more problems in the future. He thinks if the American people don't back down and support Bush, then the terrorists efforts in Iraq will have failed. Although I am a Bush supporter, I don't think that this is a real valid argument because people are voting on much more than just Iraq, and its not as if Kerry is just going to stop fighting terrorism if he is elected.
I might be wrong but i think the difference between the German tilt towards Kerry and Putins tilt towards Bush is that if you polled ordinary Germans most would probably support Kerry, and if you polled ordinary Russians most would probably support Kerry.
What about the underlying assumption...does anyone think that terror attacks would weaken Bush? I'd rather assume that more terror attacks would increase Bush's chances to win the election even more.
The main focus of Kerry's campaign has been the his so-called "disaster" in Iraq and trying to make Bush look worse and worse as the situation in Iraq worsens. That's been the cornerstone of Kerry's campaign. The worse Iraq gets, the worse Bush looks according to Putin (and Kerry for that matter). The terrorists believe this as well.
I've never been to Russia, although my Dad visited the USSR with a friend, and fellow academic colleague, on a trip back to the US from a USAID stint in southern India, at the height of the Cold War. ( My Dad and his friend were drugged, had their room searched, and were followed by the KGB through at least 3 countries after leaving the Soviet Union, because they asked to visit a Russian professor at Moscow University, as a courtesy, because the gentleman had visited my father's college at a major university in Houston, and had said, "If you are ever in my country, come visit, and I will give you a tour!" They never got to speak to the Russian professor, to say the least. That's another story, of course) I have visited Germany on a few occasions, so my take on their reaction to our election was easy to make. I doubt that the average Russian knows a great deal about our elections and the candidates. The well educated, a much smaller number than what we are used to seeing here, or in Germany, are a different matter, of course. Who knows? Perhaps someone here does. Keep D&D Civil!!
I think it is disputable that the terrorists would want Kerry to win (not that it should matter what these horrible people want). They might want Bush to win, so that they can keep motivating their terrorists by depicting him as the big enemy. I don't know, but I think it is not clear.
I doubt Putin really has America’s best interest in his heart. If he really cares and believes what we are doing is just, he would have send troops to Iraq and help us to raise a successful campaign against terrorist. Any talk without real actions to back them up is just talk.
i don't like this argument that if the bad guy doesn't support our leader, then we should support our leader. it implies that if you don't support bush, you are supporting the terrorists. Does that mean that if the KKK doesn't support kerry, then a vote for Bush is a vote for the KKK?
