My cousin, the journalist

She's smart, and it seems she's figured something out...



Bush Recommends Putin Create a Democracy "Like Iraq" -- Really

As a history buff, we humbly submit that this exchange might be remembered for a very long time:

During a joint news conference Saturday in St. Petersburg, Bush said he raised concerns about democracy in Russia during a frank discussion with the Russian leader.

"I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same," Bush said.

To that, Putin replied, "We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy that they have in Iraq, quite honestly."

OK, we'll put on our PR hat here:

The White House and its Big Media echo chamber have convinced a certain percentage of the American people that the Bush Administration's goal for Iraq is "democracy," rather than a base for long-term military and diplomatic influence in the Middle East.

Of course, it's patently obvious that any democratic government unfriendly to the U.S. would not be permitted in Iraq (just as we historically have worked to destabilize unfriendly democracies in Latin America and elsewhere). Can any serious person even debate this fact?

And given that the vast majority of any potential electorate in the Middle East is demonstrably unfriendly to the U.S., unfettered democracy in the region is clearly unacceptable to us strategically. Facts are facts, right?

That's realpolitik. And that's fine. While we, personally, didn't agree with the decision to go to war, we embrace the reality that protecting U.S. interests abroad is critical to U.S. foreign policy.

But -- back to the G8 summit -- Bush should know his audience, or at least his advisors should. People closely watching the summit are a bit more sophisticated than Bush's domestic base; they get their news from the Economist, not Sean Hannity. They have some gleaning of what's actually going on in the world.

So to hold Iraq up as a shining example of democracy to Putin -- who is doing some heavy-duty spinning himself these days -- is the height of hubris. If we were diplomats, we'd be extremely depressed right now. But since we're just sitting here in our boxers spouting off on a Saturday morning, we'll settle for bemused.

Oh well, time for some handyman work -- got to change a few light bulbs around the house. (Is Bush's head a screw-off? If so, we can replace that one while we're at it.)