Igor Oleynik, CEO of International Business Publications in Washington, DC, has sent me a spoof letter from Putin to Obama. Like most satire, it is over the top in some of its points, but it does illustrate the obvious fact that the way the Ukrainian situation has been handled by the Obama Administration has in fact strengthened President Putin’s hand at home.
It is hard for me to believe that this was President Obama’s intent. So the question arises: have the pressures of domestic politics so blinded the Administration to the consequences of its actions abroad that it has lost the presumed American virtue of pragmatism?
Now the tongue-in-cheek draft letter:
Dear President Obama:
It was a real pleasure for me to communicate with You over the phone during
the past month. I am really grateful to You for devoting so much time to the
problems of strategic importance, which have been worrying Russian people
and myself for many decades. Now, I have to say that mostly because of Your
dedication, efforts and help, some of our problems started to move towards
resolution. There are too many problems You have helped us to resolve to be
listed in this letter. In this short letter I would like to mention only
several problems and global issues which You have helped us to resolve
lately.
1. Thank You very much for Your efforts for making a neo-fascist revolt in
Ukraine possible. (We know that You and Your associates have spent a great
deal of money and efforts for doing this). By financing the efforts of
Ukrainian neo-fascists to overthrow the elected President of Ukraine — Mr.
Yanukovich — by force. By doing this, You and Your colleagues did a lot for
reviving Russian patriotic feelings, uniting all political forces in Russia,
moving forward the process of political and spiritual consolidation of the
diverse Russian society. Also, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to
express separate thanks for making me the undisputable leader of the
Russian-speaking world worldwide.
2. Thank You very much for elevating my political rating inside Russia to
the highest point in the recent history. Currently my political rating among
Russian voters has jumped to the level of nearly 70%.
3. Special thanks for demonstrating to me and to the Russian people, that
You — as well as — the United States political elite simply does not want
to develop real partnership relations with the new Russia in resolving
mutually important global and regional problems. Also, nether You, nor Your
esteemed colleagues have very superficial understanding of the political and
economic trends undergoing in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and some other
countries of the world. I would like to assure You, that such understanding
would help me a lot in my everyday work on forming the political and
economic strategy for development of my country Russia in the future. With
Your permission, we will try to use the situation to our advantage in
Europe, Asia, Latin America and other regions of the world.
4. Thank You very much for showing to me that European Union leadership and
the leading European countries do not have independent — from the United
States — foreign policy and geopolitical strategy. Also, I understood that You and nearly all European politicians are still preferring to stay under the convenient
intoxication of the medications developed and prescribed by the Cold War.
5. Thanks a lot for pushing me to reorienting our foreign policy to Asia –
specifically to China and Japan. The leadership of these countries already
informed me that they are open for new mutually beneficial initiatives,
projects and strategic breakthroughs.
6. Thank You very much for providing to me an opportunity to show to all
countries which are not happy with the US policy in various regions of the
world that they can come to Russia and ask for help in defending their
political and economic interests often discriminated by the United States.
Because of Your help, they started to consider Russia and the second global
power slowly but surely climbing up to the world political stage. Many
thanks for showing to everyone that we have moved into a bipolar world.
7. I am really grateful for providing me with additional incentives for
speed up our economic development, multiply our efforts for building a
diversified, modern and self-reliable economy, especially agriculture and
high tech. By the way, leaders of our military industrial complex asked me
to express to You their special appreciation and thanks. Now they will be
developing new weapon system with the increased dedication and efforts.
8. Thank You very much for forcing me and my government — including
legislature — to develop and adopt in a real speedy way the set of laws for
accepting new countries and territories into the Russian Federation. I have
been searching for a resolution of this problem for some time, but only Your
efforts in Ukraine helped me to finalize and successfully test these legal
techniques. It has worked perfectly with Crimea Republic and I can assure
You, that we will be using this approach many times in the near future.
Please do not hesitate to call me if You have the similar ideas and plans
for other neighboring countries.
9. Thank You very much for issuing an Executive Order for blocking foreign
bank account and property of the Russian officials. This measure is very
timely. It will help me to finalize the implementation of my Order, which
require all Russian officials and politicians to close their foreign bank
accounts and do not have any real estate abroad.
10. And finally, I would like to thank You separately for making all, so
called “liberal” political forces in Russia very unpopular among Russian
voters. The reason for such drop in their popularity is very simple –
differently from 90 percent of the Russian population, they did not support
me in accepting Crimea Republic back to Russia after 60 years of separation
from its motherland. As the result, my political allies and myself will be
winning all elections for years to come.
Very Truly Yours:
Vladimir Putin
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