West Acts Like ‘Bull in China Shop’ in Middle East – Russian PM Medvedev

[Purveyor]

MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev criticized on Sunday the West’s interference in the Middle East, describing it as a “bull in a china shop.”
In an interview with Russia Today international news TV channel, Medvedev said he agreed with the interviewer that the West often purposefully pushed whole nations to the point of no return, beyond which it was very difficult to convince the warring sides to attempt negotiations.

“Our Western partners sometimes behave like a bull in a china shop – they squeeze in, crush everything and then don’t know what to do next. I often find myself astonished at their analysts and how inconsistent their projects are that they push through by their superiors and at the outcomes they get,” Medvedev told Russia Today.

“If we’re being completely honest, what good did the Arab Spring bring to the Arab world? Did it bring freedom? A little, at best. In most countries it led to endless bloodshed, regime change, and continuous unrest. I have no illusions about that either. As for the pushing you mentioned, yes, unfortunately, that’s true,” Medvedev said.

What happened in Libya and Iraq and what is happening in Syria show that there is a forceful dismantling of a country’s political system under the guise of the fight for national interests, an intrusion into its internal affairs and the installation a loyal political regime, Medvedev said.

MORE...http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130804/182572291/West-Acts-Like-Bull-in-China-Shop-in-Middle-East--Russian-PM.html

[Junkdrawer]

1. Short term wins, long term disasters...

It's our specialty

[NuclearDem]

6. Well, part of our specialty.

Never learning our lesson is the other part.

[Gravitycollapse]

2. Ummm...isn't Russia shipping arms to Syria?

How exactly does such a revelation fit into the bull in a china shop comparison?

[Scootaloo]

4. Well, it works like this...

Syria is a sovereign nation that has been allied with Russia for most of Syria's existence.

Syria's government is facing an insurrection by people who apparently like to cut out and eat peoples' hearts.

This insurrection is being openly funded by "Western" interests.

Rather than just allow these foreign-backed terrorists (I mean "freedom fighters"!) overthrow Syria's standing government and crumble the nation into warring factionalized clumps, Russia is supplying its long-time ally with weapons to fight the war it has found itself in.

The west seems to believe that throwing money at murderous fuckweasel assholes is "not being involved," that an Arab nation defending itself against a western coup attempt is a godawful thing, and that other nations who are involved but not trying to destroy an Arab nation need to shut up and get out of the way.

[Junkdrawer]

5. +1000

[Gravitycollapse]

7. So am I being led to believe that we are still having East-West proxy wars?

This is a civil war. Neither the West nor the East should have any part in it. Russia has stuck its foot in its mouth with this one.

[Scootaloo]

9. Nope, I'm telling you exactly what's going on

Russia is coming to the aid of one of its allies. It's sort of the point of an alliance. It's no mystery why a powerful nation might send weapons to a beleaguered ally, nor is it some sort of grievous offense to do so.

If you paid a little attention though you would notice that this insurrection is bought and paid for by other parties, many of them "western." And without a whole lot of discrimination, I might add, the US apparently doesn't care if our money is going to Al Qaeda, so long as it's Syrians paying the price for it. This has been the case for most of the last two years.

It's not a proxy war. It's not West vs. East with Syria as a battleground. it's the west vs. Syria with Russia as an ally of Syria.

[Gravitycollapse]

10. Ahhh okay so it's okay because Russia supports a STATE terrorist regime.

Got it.

[Scootaloo]

12. Given that the "Terrorist regime" label comes from the people funding terrorist groups against it?

You can dislike the Syrian government all you want, that's perfectly fine. But pretending you're some sort of humanitarian because you want to slaughter a few tens of thousands of people in order to topple that government, and then replace it with warring factions which will no doubt kill thousands more, makes no fucking sense.

Unless by "liberate" you mean "liberate from the mortal coil," which does seem to fit the West's agenda towards Arab states...

[Gravitycollapse]

14. You're having a conversation with yourself. I don't support either side.

I'm simply not willing to make excuses for Russia. Unlike you.

[Number23]

16. "Syria's government is facing an insurrection by people who apparently like to cut out

Last edited Mon Aug 5, 2013, 12:00 AM - Edit history (1)

Syria's government is facing an insurrection by people who apparently like to cut out and eat peoples' hearts."

Oh my god. I did not read that here. Are you actually PRO Assad?

EDIT: Don't know when you'll see this post but please don't bother responding to it. I've read your other posts to gravitycollapse and this is most definitely not an issue that I you and I will agree on or a reasonable conversation will come out of so I want to stop it before it begins.

The pointless and needlessly moronic intervention of the ankle-biter down thread just cements that this is not a thread that anything good will come out of. So please just ignore my comment to you. Thanks.

[whttevrr]

21. There was a video...

It was not actually the heart but the guy did take a bite out of an internal organ that was taken out of a dead Syrian soldier.

He was later identified and even admitted to this. It was reported a while back.

[whttevrr]

22. found it...

[Number23]

23. One video of ONE person doing something atrocious does not excuse what Bashar al-Assad is

doing to tens of thousands of his countrymen. What Al-Assad is doing is deranged and horrible and has been condemned in no uncertain terms by every Western and Arab leader. To see people minimizing this is astonishing.

[whttevrr]

25. Oh... so you knew?

Sorry, did not realize you were being patronizing. You obviously were very aware of this incident.

my bad.

[Number23]

27. I heard about the one video of one man doing that. Sorry, I didn't realize that there were

people out there that think the behavior of one or even 100 are representative of an entire nation of people. I was hoping you and the poster I was actually speaking to at the start of this conversation -- who was not you, by the way -- were being facetious. They may be since they haven't responded yet but it's obvious that you actually think that one man's actions represent all of the rebels.

Didn't realize that you were being serious. My bad.

[whttevrr]

28. Yeah, I know what you mean...

Sometimes snark reads as ignorance.

[Number23]

29. And sometimes ignorance reads as ignorance just as easily.

[whttevrr]

30. Yeah...

Glad you cleared that up and didn't get personal. Oh, wait... but you did.

I was just speaking to the factual reality of the other persons statement. Your first post read like you had no idea that this video existed. I pointed out that it was there and you confirmed that you knew of the incident. So, yeah... that was not ignorance of knowledge, it was willful feigning of ignorance.

[Number23]

31. I did not feign ignorance. You leapt into this conversation for no reason

I asked if the person was pro-Assad which is not something that you are qualified to answer so I have no idea why you decided to try to. You were the one who leapt in with the video as if anyone asked for it. I didn't.

You started with the personal comments and I responded in kind. No reason for this conversation to have started and I certainly see no reason to keep it going.

[whttevrr]

32. huh? There was a question?

Where is the question in this?

23. One video of ONE person doing something atrocious does not excuse what Bashar al-Assad is
doing to tens of thousands of his countrymen. What Al-Assad is doing is deranged and horrible and has been condemned in no uncertain terms by every Western and Arab leader. To see people minimizing this is astonishing.

[Number23]

33. I can understand your confusion since my first post in this thread WAS NOT TO YOU

which for some reason didn't stop you in the least for trying to answer for them. But please go be confused with someone else.

[whttevrr]

34. It's a public forum...

I can respond to whatever I want.

I thought the question "Are you actually PRO Assad?" was an obvious bullshit question. Feigning ignorance of the subject was the icing on the cake that made me want to say something. I figure if you were going to interject with some total bullshit derailment, I could too.

Just the fact that you are carrying on about how I should not be able to even address you because you were having a conversation with someone else on a public message board shows me that you just wanted to snark away in peace. I thought: "What the hell if Number23 is going to just douche up the thread, the least I could do is keep it honest."

[Number23]

35. When someone asks a specific poster "are you pro-Assad" why anyone besides that poster would attempt

to respond is just stupid. No other way to put it.

You are not Scootaloo. Why try to answer for them? That your subsequent posts have been every bit as pointless and nonsensical as your first one and that you feel compelled to CONTINUE to respond to me even though there is absolutely no reason at all for you to do so is simply icing on the cake of why you are making such a hilarious spectacle of yourself in this thread.

So by all means, keep talking about absolutely nothing and looking more unhinged. You obviously have a dog in this fight and it's probably every bit as lost and confused as you are.

[whttevrr]

36. Nicely done...

Well done sir.

You win the interwebs


However, if you notice, I did not even deem your pro Assad question as worthy of a response. It was more about the dismissal of an incident that actually occurred. You made it seem preposterous that someone would bring up the guy who cut open a body and took a bite out of someones internal organ.

Again, yes, I am not scootaloo and I do not think your question about who is pro Assad is even relevant. But your denial of reality seems to beg for an objection. It happened. That is all I was referencing. Just because you deny its relevance does not make it irrelevant to others.

[Ed Suspicious]

26. If people could take a step back and look at the politics of it all and quit cheer-leading for the

"good guys" maybe we might understand a bit about how the world works. Really useful post, Scootaloo. Thanks for your perspective.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

3. Sore losers

Syria's Assad is their last ally, other than Iran, who is looked upon with deep suspicion by the Arab states. But it's why Syria is so bloody. Russia won't give up their last ally easily.

[former9thward]

11. Losers?

Who are our allies in that region?

[Benton D Struckcheon]

13. Everyone except Iran and Syria.

Lebanon I suppose you could consider neutral. We have bases in a lot of these countries. Russia long ago lost most of its leverage in the ME.

[former9thward]

15. You use the word ally very loosely.

No Arab country is our ally. Just because they take our 'aid' does not make them an ally. We have bases because we give them money.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

17. Huh?

Nations have interests, not friends. If two nations' interests align, they're allies. So yeah, we want their energy, and they want to sell it. Voila!
Russia, OTOH, is also a seller of energy. No interest of theirs aligns with tha Arab states. Hence their rather pathetic state in the region andd this frankly laughable statement.

[former9thward]

18. We buy oil from Venezuela.

So under your expanded definition they are our ally.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

24. Yeah, they sell us their oil,

and they'll continue to 'cuz they have no choice in the matter, geography being what it is.
For the ME countries, they have a problem 'cuz of the Persian Gulf, which can easily be choked off. So, they have oil to sell, and we have a military that can keep the Persian Gulf open. So there you are.
Which argument am I going to face now? That Russia, a country with a GDP smaller than California's at this point (Brazil's GDP is bigger, and even India is edging them out a bit), is somehow supposed to be some major player on the world stage that the US is supposed to listen to because of their...what, exactly? I certainly don't know.

[malaise]

8. Sadly he is correct

Rec

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. No good guys in Syria's civil war. Which is a damned good reason to stay out of it.