Putin: Russian For "Both Sides Of Mouth"

The Moscow Times has a good piece by defense analyst , who discounts any of the sympathetic, anti-terrorist mumblings Vladimir Putin may have made at the G8 meeting, countering with facts. The article unmasks continuing anti-US propaganda by the Russian intelligence machinery:

... powerful anti-American forces in Moscow have recently been doing their best to further subvert the already fragile anti-terrorism alliance. Airat Vakhitov, a Russian Muslim who was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and held in Guantanamo until March 2004, held a news conference in Moscow two weeks ago and decried the desecration of the Quran by U.S. solders. It later became known that Vakhitov did not see the desecration himself but was told about it by a fellow inmate at Guantanamo.

The news conference of this not very credible witness of U.S. abuse was organized by the pro-government RIA-Novosti news agency. Vakhitov's statement that the Quran was flushed down the toilet appeared all over Russian television and was repeated for days afterward by the state-owned Rossia channel.

A high-ranking Kremlin insider told me on condition of anonymity that Vakhitov's story was "a Soviet-style anti-American propaganda operation," organized by our intelligence services. The same source confirmed that the promotion of Vakhitov's tale was authorized at the highest level.

Moscow is undermining anti-terrorist solidarity in other ways as well. The Pentagon states that the main bases for terrorists operating in Iraq are Syria and, to a lesser extent, Iran. Syria and Iran are the main sponsors and safe havens of Islamist terrorists and at the same time enjoy close political and military ties with Russia. Moscow is selling Syria modern anti-aircraft weapons that may be deployed to defend terrorist bases from U.S. air counterattacks. A deal is in the works to equip Russian-made Iranian Kilo submarines with supersonic Club-S anti-ship missiles, which could be used against the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf.

h/t Jim