At the recent Valdai Discussion Club forum President Vladimir Putin conducted a three-hour tour of his own special world — the same world that German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned us he lives in. I must say that Putin's world is more frightening and filled with hidden terrors than any horror movie.
I was most surprised by one of the Russian president's main assertions — namely, that the collapse of the Soviet Union destroyed a certain system of "checks and balances" that existed during the Cold War.
As a result, according to Putin, the United States began behaving uncontrollably in the international arena. I wonder exactly what "system" the Russian leader had in mind. I would venture to assert that no such "system" ever existed. Both Moscow and Washington more or less did as they pleased, acting as they felt their own national security interests demanded. That thinking led to the invasions of Vietnam, Grenada, Afghanistan and Czechoslovakia.
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