First Reagan telling the Soviets to bring the wall down.
Then Obama telling Mubarak to retire in California.
It's tough being a SuperPower.
This is just advice; not, unfortunately, orders that must be obeyed. If being a superpower were that simple, one could also order his replacements not to include the Muslim Brotherhood in their coalitions.
But while I had seen that pronouncement by your President in the news, I had not heard of the warm human interest story of Jhonnattan Vegas finding fame after being jolted out of his impoverished pond by the forces of anti-American dictatorship. Surely Tiger Woods had proved that golf was no longer a sport for idle capitalist oppressors, but Hugo Chavez failed to pay attention.
Does Putin count as a democracy?
Let's see.
Not being happy with the government in Chechnya, they bombed the place, killing civilians indiscriminately. Some Chechens, in their desperation, turned to al-Qaeda for help, because the CIA wasn't stepping up to the plate. Go figure.
Using a claim, later shown to be false of massacres of ethnic Russians, while G. W. Bush was out of touch in Beijing because of the Olympics, they invaded Georgia and seized part of its territory, so that now Russian troops are no longer separated from this democratic ally of ours by a natural mountain barrier. When they take over all of Georgia, will that be their "last territorial demand in Europe"?
My answer, therefore, is "No". It's a pity they've rebuilt their military to a point where, once again, they're not an evil empire we can just outlaw in five minutes.
