Putin Stokes Old "Cold War" Flames; Wrong About Why Some Nations Seek Nukes

Russian President Vladimir Putin certainly knows little about superpower diplomacy, and only stoked some old time "Cold War" sentiments with his critical views about the U.S. this weekend. Certainly a majority in the U.S. now realize what a mistake trusting Bush on Iraq was. And in the case of Afghanistan, Russia itself has taken similiar military efforts in defending itself as Chechen terrorists. It serves no useful purpose in postive relations between the U.S. or Russia for Putin to offer his recent comments. Putin cannot entirely blame a arms race in North Korea or Iran on U.S. military activity in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Nations such as North Korea or Iran are both seeking nuclear arms not entirely for any self-defense means, but also to wring concessions out of the West. Because the Bush Administration stupidly refused to sign on to a nuclear arms deal negotiated during the Clinton Administration when North Korea had only two nuclear bombs, now North Korea is asking for much more since it now has 12 or more nuclear bombs, and the six party talks in China are on the verge of collapse once again. North Korea is now seeking huge supplies of oil and electricity from the U.S. to limit their nuclear program, a far cry from the normalized relations and food aid sought under the Clinton agreement terms.

Iran at some point may also seek to extort the U.S. for some concessions once it has several bombs. Yet Iran also will not totally eliminate these weapons as they also have a dangerous warlike agenda for the future under the radical government and the ruling council of Islamic clerics. But with nuclear weapons, both North Korea and Iran are able to act like some bully seeking "protection money". And the more you pay them, the more it only rewards their outrageous activity.

Putin has it all wrong. Bully nations like North Korea and Iran develop nuclear programs because they know that they can extort money and concessions from the U.S. and the Western world. This isn't self-defense, but just old fashioned extortion.