Response to Putin: Ramifications are Necessary
In the past few
weeks there have been strong opinions coming at home and abroad towards the
United States proposition to react in a direct military strike on Syria for its
use of Chemical warfare on its own citizens. Perhaps, the most inflammatory
remarks from abroad are the words of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s New
York Times Op-ed. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?hpw). In the article Putin outlines his
opinions clearly though without any clear confirmation. Nonetheless, the
article brings to life what many foreign nationalist are saying about the
United States in less bold manner as submission in an American Newspaper.
In
the article Putin states that the world should choose inaction as their
reaction to acts against humanity, why? Because Putin fears the US going at it
alone will essential be imposing an American decision on the rest of the world
and will spur “increased violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism.”[1] Putin’s
plea comes as an appeal to the American people to honor their commitment to The
United Nations and its own international neighbors/allies. Putin believes a US
strike at Syria in response to the August 21st, 2013 mass Sarin
gassing of civilians (including men, women and children) would adversely affect
the stability of international edicts and regulations. Putin describes the civil war in Syria as an
intercultural domestic battle with no pro-democracy assembly fighting against
the government and other interest groups for power. He considers the battles
that are being waged in Syria to be simply “fueled by foreign weapons supplied
to the opposition” including terrorist groups. [2] Putin
states that their negotiations with Syria are simply an act of preservation for
all International integrity and law. Putin wonders if US policing of the world
is truly in the United States “long-term” concern or if the US merely hopes to
continue to bully the rest of the world through what he described as “brute
force.”[3]
Putin goes on to
speculate why the United States would want to risk another endeavor that has
correlating aspects to US military action in Iraq, what Putin seems to miss is
the point outline in President Obama’s September 10th, 2013 national
address. In his address President Obama clearly outlined the fact that this was
a limited military effect, to leave a lasting impression upon those who may
consider ever using chemical warfare, not as an act of war or revenge (as some
may understand), but a proportional response to acts against humanity that is
clearly outlined in the United Nations charter:
We the Peoples of the United Nations Determined to
save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our
lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the
equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish
conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from
treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to
promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom and for
these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as
good neighbors and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and to
employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social
advancement of all peoples, have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish
these aims. Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives
assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers
found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the
United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be
known as the United Nations.[4]
What
President Putin does not seem to understand is what it is to be an American,
which is okay, but he should not tell us who we are and how we are to react.
Our nation is not new to international conflict. The United States has often
times been the leader on the World’s stage simply because we are a country of
conviction and ethics. The United Nations was not created to head a coalition
of negotiators only, but as a unified taskforce to protect present and
forthcoming generations from the horrors demonstrated in the First and Second World
Wars respectively. We must uphold
justice with dignity and honor yes, but we must protect our neighbors from acts
against humanity; because what affects one member of mankind affects us all.
Putin goes on to
tout his superior beliefs in the manners of American foreign involvement as
nothing more than acts of bullying to be wrong in this modern age as only that
calm rational diplomatic settlements should be the only option. President Putin
again misunderstands. It is a fact that sometimes countries must be aggressive
to reiterate their policies and rules of engagement. If someone is wrong you
discuss it. If someone drops Sarin gas on a civilian population killing
hundreds of civilians for political or military gain they have made a choice
that affects all of us by essentially opening the door to acts against
humanity, which does not implore peace but terror. These acts against humanity cannot
be tolerated in this day or any age. These are not children to whom you put in
the corner; these are grown adults making decisions against the natural course
of humanity. As a body of the international community the United Nations and
its members that stand against a military response should be ashamed, if only
to shame them into action and their clear violation of the United Nations
Charter’s code of ethics they have stood to uphold.
In Putin’s final
remarks he takes a stab at describing the inaccuracy (as he sees it) of the
lessons of equality and the qualities of what makes America exceptional. Putin warns President Obama that encouraging
others to see themselves as exceptional is simply dangerous, as “God created us
equal.”[5] This
from the man that has trudged against steps towards equality in his own country,
but let us not get side-track shall we? President Putin, American’s are
exceptional and we know it. It does not take our President to tell us this for
us to already know this. We are exceptional, not in everything, we plunder many
things, but we do try to learn from our own mistakes and mistakes of the world.
Exceptional by its definition is to be “better than average.”[6] The
United States of America is exceptional and our citizens are indeed “better
than average” in our ability to uphold our convictions and “promote social
progress and better standards of life.”[7]
President Putin you must see the importance of a reaction if only to uphold
international peace and civilities of war. Acts against humanity should not,
especially post holocaust, be swept aside, but reacted to as if those victims
were our sons or daughters laying in the streets or in the hospital begging for
life and wishing the pain away. The United Nations promised to uphold justice
for our world so our children would not know the horrors of all-out war. We
must unite against the foes of generation and the next and make it clear that
ramifications are necessary when acts against humanity are taken.
[1] Putin, Vladmir V.
"A Plea for Caution From Russia." The New York Times. Sept.
11, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?hpw
(accessed Sept. 12, 2013).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Coate, Roger A.,
Donald J. Puchala, and Katie Verlin Laatikainen. United Nations Politics:
International Organization in a Divided World. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Rentice Hall, 2007. 203.
[5] Putin.
[6] Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 2013.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exceptional (accessed September 13,
2013).
[7] Coate,
203.
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