Response to Putin: Ramifications are Necessary

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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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