Wednesday, September 15, 2004
I looked into his soul...
I pointed out earlier this week how similar the Bush and Putin approaches to fighting terror are: identify policies by their "toughness", and pursue ever-tougher policies regardless of their success (because failure only implies insufficient "toughness").
More recent events suggest another strong similarity: both Bush and Putin are basing their appeals for public support on the claim that only nations "united" behind the leader can prevail against terrorists. Why this is so is never spelled out, but it provides a convenient pretext for centralizing power, limiting dissent, and calling your opponents traitors simply for opposing you. Bush tries to make his person a syndoche for the American "heartland", just as Putin does for Mother Russia.
Finally, both men have built their public careers around fighting "terrorism", and neither has let catastrophic failure stop them.
Sigh.
More recent events suggest another strong similarity: both Bush and Putin are basing their appeals for public support on the claim that only nations "united" behind the leader can prevail against terrorists. Why this is so is never spelled out, but it provides a convenient pretext for centralizing power, limiting dissent, and calling your opponents traitors simply for opposing you. Bush tries to make his person a syndoche for the American "heartland", just as Putin does for Mother Russia.
Finally, both men have built their public careers around fighting "terrorism", and neither has let catastrophic failure stop them.
Sigh.
