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October 19, 2003
Putin & Iraq: More on interview, al-Jazeerah, etc.
President Putin gave a kick ass interview (if lying like scum) on al-Jazeerah. Why are not more high US officials on al-Jazeerah and al-Arabiyah. Absence cedes the game.
Putin, for all that he is a scheming bastid (and I confess, I have soft spot for scheming bastids – one does not get ahead without that characteristic) knows how to spin, and although I did not understand the Russian, the translation said to me that someone had prepped him on the points that would appeal to the al-Jazeerah audience – for example he had clearly been prepped on various shared Arabo-Russian vocabulary which allowed him to make nice connexions, and he had clearly been prepped on the proper reference to upcoming Ramadan. Or Russians simply speak better to Arab issues – maybe yes, maybe no, but it is clear Putin had done his homework on a number of levels including evocative turns of phrase. I believe my dear Eva Luna would probably enjoy this interview.
Let me address this last item for a moment. I am not well learned in Russian issues, despite a passing interest in Soviet issues that led me a long time ago to study in East Germany when there was still such a thing. However, I have in the past ten years met my share of Russians in this region, and I the following strikes me as probably reasonable observations. It strikes me that the 1960s to early 1980s saw the USSR develop some ‘interesting’ relationships with the Arab world, above all the in the ‘socialist’ Arab states. It strikes me that Putin, coming from a KGB background, has access to a set of people who know, if nothing else, who to connect more or less well with the rhetorical style.
Now, the interview was not terribly hard hitting, although the follow up on usage of nuclear weapons and threats was not bad, weak but not bad. What does one expect from an interview with Putin? At the same time, I feel that Putin crafted his remarks well. He dealt with the Tchechan issue more or less well (but of course was not challenged, that in my opinion is a black mark on interview – who by the way conducted his interview in Russian). I might suspect the questions were screened. Still it was outside Russia (Malaysia) and while his self-serving representations re Tchechnia were not challenged, the pre-interview run up was moderately critical. At the same time, he got his message out in a fairly positive context. That’s better than ceding the field.
Posted by The Lounsbury at October 19, 2003 11:19 AM
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Jan-Dec 2003
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