LINKNew York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Time to forge an alliance
with Russia
Thursday, September 9th, 2004
The terrorist murders in Russia could spur an important diplomatic overture. Russian President Vladimir Putin rightly refuses to submit to terrorists and their demands, but his military commanders are not at all prepared for the kind of battle that faces them. They have not been properly trained and lack the technology that Western countries such as the United States and Britain have developed for hostage situations.
If the appropriate training and technology were offered to Putin (without a big public deal being made of it), it could bring Russia to the U.S. side in the global terrorist war.
If that happened, we would be one step closer to rebuilding the coalition that was forged for the war in Afghanistan, which included Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Japan. This should be a basic goal for the Oval Office, because homeland security without an international base may be effective for a while but, in the long run, will not do.
The problem here is China. There can be no greater satisfaction to China's leadership than a defeat of the U.S. In that regard, the longer the United States is bogged down in Iraq, the better.
How would the U.S. bring that enormous nation to see that its long-term interest is in helping to defeat the terrorist armies of jihad fundamentalists?
It won't be easy. China is moving to use its greatest natural resource, its population, to take a commanding position in Asia. It has forced Japan to reorder its economy, because China's grossly underpaid labor force is so cost-efficient that Japan, along with more and more countries, is exporting its manufacturing jobs to China, which also is doing billion-dollar business with Australia.
Only a very shrewd President with a big vision will be able to handle this problem.
Underlying the essential rebuilding of the alliance for the war in Afghanistan is the understanding that it is in the interest of all nations to make sure that terrorists do not get their hands on nuclear weapons and that nations willing to supply terrorists with monetary backing and weapons are forced into line.
Let's get some talk from the candidates on these issues instead of personal attacks. We would all be the better for it, just as we all will suffer if these complex homeland security issues are not effectively addressed.