A few weeks ago on the radio program I asked our guest Ralph Peters,author of “Never Quit The Fight,” if we should be concerned with Russia given Putin’s fairly recent consolidation of power and nationalization of large sectors of the Russian economy. Ralph was not as concerned as I thoght he may be. Nevertheless, Gary Kasparov, contributing editor at The Wall Street Journal, and chairman of the United Civil Front of Russia and co-chairman of the All-Russia Civil Congress had this to say in today’s WSJ (subs req)
The Putin administration is selling off the future of Russia by the barrel. Even before an inevitable fall in energy prices bankrupts us, the epidemic levels of corruption and cronyism in our government will take their toll. A recent report from Audit Chamber Chairman Sergei Stepashin admitted there was a “loophole” that allowed Russia’s richest man, Roman Abramovich, to extract $500 million a year via the Chukotka region of which he is Mr. Putin’s appointed governor.
Kasparov then helps answer my question as to whether or not we should be concerned about Putin and Russia:
This should lead us to wonder if they really have the West’s best interests at heart when it comes to global stability. Mr. Putin has had six years to make good on his assurances to the West to help bargain with the various hostile regimes he is so close to. He promised to help with North Korea and now they have missiles capable of reaching the U.S. coast. After endless negotiations with Russia, Iran is more belligerent than ever and is hurriedly enriching uranium. The Russian foreign minister was supposedly brokering with Hezbollah and Hamas and now we have a full-scale war.
Kasparov then points out that:
A few days after the hostilities broke out, the Putin administration released its list of national and international terrorist groups — the first time the list has been made public. Strikingly, both Hamas and Hezbollah are missing. Combined with the timing of its publication, can this be seen as anything but a sign of support for the group that ignited the current conflict? Mr. Putin has demonstrated that he, too, lacks a belief in the sanctity of human life — yet he is welcomed by the West as a partner.
I hope that in Secretary Rice’s travels and meetings with Mr. Putin that she borrow an old Reagan maxim: “Trust but verify.”