If Washington lets Turkey occupy Northern Iraq, i.e. Iraqi Kurdistan, the moral underpinnings of the war will be shattered. But since I am skeptical about their existence beyond the blogosphere, I’d rather focus on Russia’s optimal strategy. Whatever the Russian Foreign Ministry says about the preciousness of peace and the jurisdiction of the UN can be dismissed. They don’t know other languages. What matters is the message behind all that. The Russians, from the top down and from the bottom up, seem to be pretty cynical on the war. It’s a clash of interests to them; and what can Russia gain?
I don’t think it’s a great idea for Russia to defend its oil concessions — would it not be smarter to talk about America’s “economic injustices” like the steel quotas? (Or to ask Bush to stop the FBI and CIA from leaking (dis)information damaging to Russia’s economic interests to the press? A conspiracy theory en vogue with Russian TV journalists.)