Politics -- And Egos -- Make Strange Bedfellows

Politics -- And Egos -- Make Strange Bedfellows

By: Rachel Marsden

When U.S. President George Bush said this week that letting Iran have nukes could lead to World War III, it got me thinking about what that would look like.

First we have Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who seems to be looking for some attention and a place at the big kids' table -- but Bush and other Western leaders won't let him near the sharp cutlery. Perhaps Mahmoud thought he had a bosom buddy in Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez, but Chavez is busy helping Fidel Castro with his seniors chair aerobics.

So who does Mahmoud turn to? Comrade-in-chief Vladimir Putin of Russia -- a man who has produced more glamour shots than a Barbizon Modelling School. Putin is a black belt in judo, and also a black belt in killing people -- a fact that might appeal to the Iranian leader, given his musings about "wiping Israel off the map."

Putin swoops into Tehran this week and, despite having voted twice in favour of UN sanctions against Ahmadinejad's nuclear ambitions, now favours its right to nuclear energy. He's even building a nuclear reactor for Iran -- a project that had been halted because Mahmoud reportedly wasn't paying his bills.

No one can argue Putin isn't a cunning strategist. He and his Cold War mentality were all but irrelevant, but now he's positioned himself as a middle-man. As soon as Putin returned from his Mideast rendez-vous, Israel's Ehud Olmert jetted to Moscow to find out from Putin what was going on in Iran.

So there we have it -- the Putin/Ahmadinejad Axis of Ego. A marriage between Islam and communism, adding a whole new dimension to a fourth generation war that, up until now, largely lacked geopolitical boundaries.

There's only one benefit to this alliance -- the possibility that Russians may refuse to tolerate their allies getting their war uniforms from the clearance bin at Value Village.

During the Second World War, Hitler's team wore Hugo Boss, for crying out loud.

But the worst thing about the possibility of a war with these folks is the West will be forced to fight by one set of rules while this enemy will largely be given a free pass.

Take Putin, for example. A rumoured Muslim suicide bomber threat during his Iranian visit didn't faze him. That's because he routinely kills suicide-bombing, aircraft-hijacking Muslim terrorists (aka "Chechen rebels") back home with little to-do. Sure, Human Rights Watch has called the reality of torture if these folks are captured by pro-Moscow forces, "real and immediate," but so what? They've also pointed out "there's little chance your torturer will be held accountable."

No one in their right mind wants to mess with Putin, who won't care what you think anyway. So instead, the leftists turn, for instance, to bullying Bush over terrorists playing naked Twister in prison.

Another possible communist ally is China -- a country with such bad pollution it has environmental refugees while leftists put the screws to Bush and the West. China violates human and animal rights like it's a sport, and has been selling us lead-filled toys and poisonous pet food. Now, China has freed up some of that commie cash to buy stakes in various American firms, possibly including investment bank Bear Stearns.

It's amazing what they can accomplish when they don't have to play by the same rules as the West -- and the leftists make sure they never, ever have to.

PUBLISHED: TORONTO SUN (October 22/07)