After seeing Charlie Wilson’s War I thought about Vladamir Putin watching the same movie in the Red Square Multiplex in Moscow. I wondered what he thought about it.
Was he was amused at Charlie’s sexual escapades and drug and alcohol binges? Did he laugh at Charlie’s secretary’s line, “Charlie say’s you can teach a secretary to type but you can’t teach them to grow tits”? Was there steam coming out of his ears as he watched the footage of Russian helicopters being blown out of the sky with US supplied stinger missiles? He probably didn’t appreciate the great acting by Tom Hanks and Seymour Hoffman, or what a babe Julie Roberts is, even at her advancing age. Did he understand that the lines about Russian soldiers bayoneting pregnant women and slitting the throats of children was just “artistic license”? No, he seems like a pretty serious guy to me. I’ll be he didn’t crack a smile through the whole movie.
I’ll bet he still remembers the dead (14,453) Russians, sick and wounded (469,685), permanently disabled (469,685), loss of 118 aircraft, 333 helicopters, 147 tanks, 1,314 IFV/APCs, 433 artillery guns and mortars , 1,138 radio sets and command vehicles, 510 engineering vehicles, 11,369 trucks and petrol tankers. I’ll bet he doesn’t think Charlie is a hero.
Putin’s a scarey guy. He was KGB. He’s the most powerful guy in Russia, a soon to be resurected super power. He makes people drop dead from drinking tea in a sidwalk café. He has lots of nukes. He has lots of oil. He has lots of friends who also remember Charlie’s war and I’ll bet none of them remember it as a comedy.
As Russia becomes a stronger economic and military nation, I worry about what Putin thought about Charlie Wilson’s War.
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Payback is a bitch. I'm an American of Ukrainian decent whose family came to the States after WW2. I don't particularly care if Putin was offended, as I'm more offended by the police state he is building at home and exporting abroad to places like London. (see Litvinenko, as well as Ukraine, Georgia, etc) The Red Army and Kremlin as Soviet institutions got what it deserved, though I feel sorry for the conscripts who were sent to Afghanistan against their will.
Hi Mark,
I sure won't defend the Soviets, but their despicable actions did not justify our despicable actions. We are reaping the unintended consequences of our support for muslim whackos, and we still haven't learned a damn thing. Now WE occupy Afghanistan and Iraq. Isn't that a fine kettle of fish?
I don't know what formula to use with Putin, or any other dictator, but I know the "Fuck You" approach Bush is using is not useful.
Just found your blog, man. You are off to a great start! Hope you keep posting from the left coast this winter!
Peace
The History Channel is running a documentary on Charlie Wilson that's worth watching.
Still haven't seen the movie.
One thing about the documentary I found interesting is that Charlie's socialite girl friend Joanne Herring thought it was our 'Christian Duty' to help the Muslim Afghan People in their fight against the USSR.
Imagine, during the 80's the Christian Duty was to help Muslims, not kill them.
One thing about the Soviet-Afghan war is that there was a feeling in our country that it was revenge for Vietnam. The USSR armed and supplied the North so our government felt justified in sticking it to the Soviets.
Putin's pissed off I'm sure. First Bush wants to build a 'missle defense shield' in eastern europe then Bush starts fucking with Russia's trading buddy Iran. Russia is building Iran's nukes.
I am not absolving Putin of blame but Bush drove Russia back into the arms race. Maybe Bush wanted it that way.
Be interesting to learn how many Russian made anti-tank mines are making their way from Iran into Iraq to kill our troops.
Hell our own country was busted selling weapons to the insurgents.
There are so many guns and explosives floating around no one knows where they all come from any more.
You saw Lord of War, right Dave?
Hi Negaku,
Thanks. I doubt that I have the discipline that you and Poli have, but I'll try to keep at it.
Hi Poli,
Yes, Lord of War was enlightening.
I shudder to think of how devastating PEACE would be to our economy.
One thing that bothers me about Charlie Wilson's War is that it is a COMEDY. It seems that we have become so accustomed to morally reprehensible behavior sanctioned by our government that we don't even flinch when we see it. We can laugh about some of the most destructive decisions our legislators ever made.
The movie didn't make the 9/11 connection more obvious because they didn't want to spoil the fun. They made killing 14,543 Russians palatable by framing them as baby killers and mother rapers, kind of like a Rambo movie, so we would cheer when the helicopters were blown-up. Those soldiers didn't have mothers and brothers and fathers, they were just murderers. We gave stinger missiles to poor peasant farmers. No mention of Osama and the other bat-shit-crazy-fundamentalist-muslims who we trained to eventually kill us.
So, history stands revised. Most people who will see the movie will have a FOX NEWS perspective on the whole event.
The movie begins with and ends with "Charlie Wilson did it." He bankrupt the USSR, and ended the cold war.
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