I wonder what President Bush saw when he looked into Vladimir Putin's soul. Apparently, our President got an inside view of the Russian President's innermost, even subconscience emotions when he declared after a meeting, "I looked into [Putin's] soul and I saw that I could work with him."
Yet regardless of the deep connection between the two leaders, it is clear that President Bush put way too much faith in Putin regarding the war on terror and the elections in Ukraine.
The Russian President is considered a valuable asset to have on your side in the war on terror. Yet one would have to be completely naive, or just plain stupid, to believe that Putin's only intention in teaming up with Bush to fight terrorism is to protect the citizens of Russia. Though Putin seems to be deeply committed to fighting global terrorism, he is also deeply committed to centralizing governmental control and undermining the development of democracy.
Following the Chechen terrorist attacks on a Moscow theater in 2002, Putin passed a bill that restricted journalists' access to terrorist attack sites. The Kremlin was not pleased that journalists had revealed a governmental secret: Over 100 hostages had died because of gas used by Russian police, and not by terrorists' gunshots like the original report had claimed.
In response to the tragedy at a school in Beslan, in which over 300 people died, Putin has proposed striking changes to the process in which regional governors are elected. Currently, these leaders are elected by the local population; under Putin's proposal, the governors will be proposed by the Kremlin and elected by local parliaments. As a result of these reforms, Putin has established significant central government control over his country and has undermined the development of democracy, clearly using the threat of terrorism to his political advantage.
Concerning the elections in Ukraine, Bush's faith in Putin has vastly complicated the relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Bush's constant rhetoric is that the United States should pledge to spread and promote freedom and democracy throughout the world. Less than two months before national elections are to supposedly take place in Iraq, the United States is working to make sure that the Iraqi elections are fair and transparent.
Well, it is clear that Putin simply does not care about free and fair elections in Ukraine; he called to congratulate Victor Yanukovych on his alleged victory even before the Central Election Committee released the blatantly falsified results. As long as his endorsed candidate wins, it doesn't matter how. Even if the election is fraudulent. So, as much as Bush and Putin want to be friends, their ideals and priorities couldn't be more different.
Although Putin has traveled twice to Ukraine to endorse the alleged winner Yanukovych, and has gotten in the middle of the Ukrainian election, he does not want the West to meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine, which, like Belarus, is in Russia's sphere of influence. Despite these blatantly hypocritical statements by Putin, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Senator Richard Lugar, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the leader of the U.S. envoy monitoring the Ukrainian elections have issued scolding remarks condemning the Nov. 21 runoff and refusing to recognize its results.
The Ukrainian presidential elections have clearly strained Russian-American relations but have actually improved relations between Europe and the U.S. For the first time in years, it seems the United States and Europe are united in pressuring the Ukrainian government to clean up its act and hold legitimate elections.
As a result of the incredible circumstances in Ukraine and Putin's undemocratic political reforms, the two leaders may realize they do not need each other's support as much as they originally thought. Though Bush and Putin may be united in fighting global terrorism, they are deeply divided concerning the promotion of free and fair elections and democracy. If opposition candidate Victor Yushchenko wins the proposed rerun of the runoff between him and Yanukovych on Dec. 26, it will be interesting to follow how quickly the United States recognizes the results, and more importantly, if Bush will invite Yushchenko to the White House. So, relations between the United States and Russia could likely continue to worsen in the future.
As a result, Bush and Putin will not continue to give each other unrelenting support. Though we aren't heading towards another Cold War, we may be heading towards another era of deep distrust between the United States and Russia. Even Bush may now know what is really in Putin's soul.
Stephan Vitvitsky is a junior majoring in Economics and Political Science. He can be reached via e-mail at Stephan.Vitvitsky@tufts.edu.
