Do as I Do, Not as I Say

It's been a rough year so far for Bush's campaign to spread democracy and human rights around the world. Maybe it's because we're not credible on the issue, with millions of Americans denied the right to vote because of felony convictions, boycotts of countries who elect people we don't like, gulags, and secret police. Or maybe it's because the world is too busy listening to Bush's other messages, like "if you don't want to be invaded, you better build powerful weapons right away." Iran certainly got the message. And so has Russia.

President Vladimir Putin warned today that the U.S.-Russian arms race is not over and called for a strengthening of his nation's nuclear and conventional forces so Moscow can better resist foreign pressure.

"It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race," said Mr. Putin, who pointed out in the nationally televised address that U.S. defense spending is 25 times higher than Russia's and said his country needs to catch up. "Their house is their fortress? Well done," he said. "But it means that we must build our house strongly, reliably, because we see what is going on the world."

And I'm sure Dick Cheney thought he was such a bad-ass when he told Lithuanians that Russia was a corrupt dictatorship masquerading as a free and democratic society. But, Putin ain't no punching bag.

"Where does the whole pathos about the need to struggle for democracy and human rights disappear to, when the talk is of ensuring one's own interests?" Mr. Putin asked rhetorically in an apparent reference to U.S. actions in the war on terrorism, including the indefinite detention of suspects without trial.

"Then it seems everything is possible. There are no limits at all," he said. Invoking a Russian proverb, he added: "As the saying goes, comrade wolf knows whom to eat, and he eats without listening to others."

Zing! Cheney, 1; Putin, 14.