So that’s how a competent Secretary of Defense acts
Yesterday Russian President Vladimir Putin went to town on the United States at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, according to the Financial Times: Vladimir Putin threw down the gauntlet to the west in a confrontational speech on Saturday, attacking what he called ?illegal? US unilateral military action and arguing it had made the world ...
Yesterday Russian President Vladimir Putin went to town on the United States at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, according to the Financial Times: Vladimir Putin threw down the gauntlet to the west in a confrontational speech on Saturday, attacking what he called ?illegal? US unilateral military action and arguing it had made the world more dangerous. In a speech that stunned most of the audience at an annual security conference held in Munich, Mr Putin also railed against US plans to build anti-missile defences in Europe, the expansion of Nato to include countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, and a host of other western policies. Indeed, Putin says the following in his speech: Unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions have not resolved any problems. Moreover, they have caused new human tragedies and created new centres of tension. Judge for yourselves: wars as well as local and regional conflicts have not diminished. I wonder if any of Putin's advisors have the stones to tell him that, actually, he's wrong. That's not what this post is about, however. No, this post is about how the Secretary of Defense responded to Putin's rhetorical blast. Here's the opening of Bob Gates's speech: [A]s an old Cold Warrior, one of yesterday?s speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a less complex time. Almost. Many of you have backgrounds in diplomacy or politics. I have, like your second speaker yesterday, a starkly different background - a career in the spy business. And, I guess, old spies have a habit of blunt speaking. However, I have been to re-education camp, spending four and half years as a university president and dealing with faculty. And, as more than a few university presidents have learned in recent years, when it comes to faculty it is either ?be nice? or ?be gone.? The real world we inhabit is a different and much more complex world than that of 20 or 30 years ago. We all face many common problems and challenges that must be addressed in partnership with other countries, including Russia. For this reason, I have this week accepted the invitation of both President Putin and Minister of Defense Ivanov to visit Russia. One Cold War was quite enough. Gates' deft deflection of Putin's charges seem to be going down well in the press. It's been so long since an American official reacted so correctly to empty bluster that I'd almost forgotten how it should be done. UPDATE: In Slate, Phil Carter finds other elements to praise in Gates.
Yesterday Russian President Vladimir Putin went to town on the United States at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, according to the Financial Times:
Vladimir Putin threw down the gauntlet to the west in a confrontational speech on Saturday, attacking what he called ?illegal? US unilateral military action and arguing it had made the world more dangerous. In a speech that stunned most of the audience at an annual security conference held in Munich, Mr Putin also railed against US plans to build anti-missile defences in Europe, the expansion of Nato to include countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, and a host of other western policies.
Indeed, Putin says the following in his speech:
Unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions have not resolved any problems. Moreover, they have caused new human tragedies and created new centres of tension. Judge for yourselves: wars as well as local and regional conflicts have not diminished.
I wonder if any of Putin’s advisors have the stones to tell him that, actually, he’s wrong. That’s not what this post is about, however. No, this post is about how the Secretary of Defense responded to Putin’s rhetorical blast. Here’s the opening of Bob Gates’s speech:
[A]s an old Cold Warrior, one of yesterday?s speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a less complex time. Almost. Many of you have backgrounds in diplomacy or politics. I have, like your second speaker yesterday, a starkly different background – a career in the spy business. And, I guess, old spies have a habit of blunt speaking. However, I have been to re-education camp, spending four and half years as a university president and dealing with faculty. And, as more than a few university presidents have learned in recent years, when it comes to faculty it is either ?be nice? or ?be gone.? The real world we inhabit is a different and much more complex world than that of 20 or 30 years ago. We all face many common problems and challenges that must be addressed in partnership with other countries, including Russia. For this reason, I have this week accepted the invitation of both President Putin and Minister of Defense Ivanov to visit Russia. One Cold War was quite enough.
Gates’ deft deflection of Putin’s charges seem to be going down well in the press. It’s been so long since an American official reacted so correctly to empty bluster that I’d almost forgotten how it should be done. UPDATE: In Slate, Phil Carter finds other elements to praise in Gates.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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