Russian President Vladimir Putin took to the New York Times yesterday to pen his opinion on the handling of Syria’s surrender of chemical weapons and President Obama’s follies as of late, and how foreign relations can be improved. Interestingly, the Russian translation of the op-ed (Google translated here) cites a recent terrorist attack on U.S. soil that wasn’t included in the Times’s English version.
Certain to strike a chord with residents of the Greater Boston area, Putin claims the Boston Marathon bombing is an example of the direct result of Western intervention in Middle Eastern affairs.
“The terrible tragedy during the Boston Marathon once again confirms this,” the Putin translation stated. This being militant mercenaries fleeing war-ravaged countries in the region only to take out their anger and frustration on the American populous.
It’s not that he’s rubbing the Marathon bombing in our faces, per se, for we can all attest to the backlash such a sentiment can bring. Really he’s trying to illustrate a resounding point: The United States, and even Russia, as he makes mention, is not exempt from the consequences of interference, no matter how well intended it may be.
Interestingly, though, the reference is completely nonexistent in the New York Times‘s version. Sure, it could’ve gotten lost in translation or the editors could’ve consciously decided to exclude it. But as is the case, especially with Bostonians, Massachusetts residents, and New Englanders at large, such an allusion is still freshly and firmly entrenched in the minds of event-attending Americans.
Even without touching briefly upon the still-goosebump-inducing combustions of April 15, 2013, Putin’s op-ed was poorly received by U.S. lawmakers, to put it lightly. Some argue he is spitting directly in the face of democracy, essentially insulting the values the United States tries to promote both here and abroad. Many have also been quick to consider the anti-homosexual propaganda laws currently enacted in Russia, given Putin’s closing sentiments that “God created us equal.”
Right now, its hard to ignore the attention Putin has received leading up to, and following, the publishing of his opinion.
How do you feel about Putin’s recent activities?
