The Bush Doctrine in Action
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Putin is aboutto place the Bush Doctrine in action
President Vladimir V. Putin, echoing statements by President Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks, said today that Russia was prepared to strike at international terrorist groups in whatever country harbored them.
Speaking in the anguished aftermath of the 57-hour siege of a Moscow theater by Chechen guerrillas, Mr. Putin ordered the Russian military to draft a new doctrine adapting the country’s forces and tactics to meet terrorist threats.
This was the inevitable result of Bush making go it alone an official policy. Now he has two choices: allow Russia to romp wherever it pleases, or try and get Russia to back down. In the first case, he makes the world less safe and more inviting to terrorists (and if you think the US has done a bad job in Afghanistan, look at the horrible record the Russian army has in Chechnya). In the second case, Bush starkly declares that there is one set of rules for the US and one for the rest of the world. That further increases tensions, decrease the willingness of people to assist us, and accelerates challenges to American power.
Other nations, especially China, India and Russia and the EU to a lesser extent, are not going to like having their actions dictated by the United States. They may not be able to do anything about it now, but that will not always be the case. By rubbing their face in it, Bush could very well be accelerating the backlash.
