Saturday, January 12, 2008

Russia and Oil from a former senior DoD official

This is another interesting perspective from an older Diane Rehm show, this time from Peter Brooks, the former deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Bush Administration.


They [the Russians] are using energy today as Russia's Cold War Red Army, the source of mother Russia's strength.

While I agree that the Russians are in fact using oil as a significant bargaining tool, I think the tone and vocabulary he uses is as interesting as the point he was making.

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Source:
Diane Rehm Show: July 11, 2006 (Listen to the entire show online: Real Media, Windows Media)

Posted by Adam at 7:34 PM
Categories: ,

2 comments:

Janelle said...

Interesting. Betrays a bit of the old-school thinking and ingrained emotional response, maybe.

January 14, 2008 at 3:22 PM
Adam said...

No, I definately agree. Within one sentence you see both the "Red Army" and "mother Russia's strength". These are both emotionally loaded terms, and go a bit beyond the original topic of Russia's energy policy. Is Russia using its oil as a strategic barganing chip? Definately. Is oil the new "Red Army"? That might be going a little far.

January 14, 2008 at 3:30 PM

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