Right-wing leaders of middling powers are falling over themselves to take credit for Vladimir Putin's early exit from the G20 summit in Brisbane. According to the Canadian media, it was tough talk from Stephen Harper ("you need to get out of Ukraine") that did it; the British press is equally clear that it was a dressing-down by David Cameron. The conference host, Tony Abbott, had tried to get his shots in first by promising to "shirtfront" Putin. This is a term I'm not familiar with, but apparently it's used in rugby, so I imagine it involves plenty of mud and swearing.
Here's something to think about. If Putin were to order his forces to retake every now-independent state that was once part of the USSR, he'd be invading fewer sovereign countries than the US and/or its allies have seen fit to wage war in over the last three decades. (Don't believe me? Start counting back from Syria and Iraq currently, travel via Grenada, Serbia, Panama and many others, and don't stop until you get to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
I don't know what Putin's up to in Ukraine; probably no good. But if he left Brisbane early, I don't imagine it was because Abbott, Cameron and Harper had made him feel ashamed. That's not an emotion he seems capable of feeling. It's more likely that he was finding the stench of hypocrisy a bit overwhelming.
No comments:
Post a Comment