Originally Posted by JollyRoger

Read what Buchanan is saying. The heart of our problem is the policies toward Russia and Iran that have been followed by the Bush administration for the last eight years. At a time when we had a tremendous opportunity for a strategic alliance with the Russians, Bush instead did everything he could to piss them off, most greviously the insane pursuit of putting missles into Poland and granting membership in NATO to countries that are right on Russia's front door step, the equivalent of Russia putting it's Atlantic Fleet and Spetznatz bases in Mexico, all at a time when there is no evidence that Russia is any kind of military threat to either us or Europe. Iran was subjected to the "we don't negotiate with terrorists" malarkey.

Buchanan is the first conservative I've read who is admitting that the American Left has been right: what we need is a re-approachment and probably a down-right formal alliance with the Russians, recognize that they have their sphere of influence in Central Europe and South Asia that is equivalent to our own in Central and South America, and that we find some sort of accomodation with Iran, who would be far more motivated to make a deal if they have both the Americans and Russians on the same side against them. This was not possible until Obama, of course, since if we did that, peace might break out, so the Bush regime was totally against the idea as it might cause a profit squeeze among the military-industrial complex they actually represented. Now that he is gone, it is time to make the deal. With a Russian partnership and an Iranian detente, the problem of Afghanistan and Pakistan becomes manageable. Russia does not want a nuclear-armed Taliban any more than we do. Iran doesn't want Sunni Al Queda leading the Muslim world. It is time for our common interests, instead of the constant "us or them" mentality of the Bu$hites, to come to the forefront so we can actually solve these problems.