In his piece in the Times, Putin called for cooperation in the struggle forced on so much of the world by persistent global Jihad.
But so much of the right wing noise machine was so preoccupied with bashing Obama, and so many across the American spectrum are so relentlessly anti-Russian, that few took note that this is a very real concern uniting the interests of Cold War enemies including Russia, China, America, and many US allies around the world.
Most chose to see only the particular common threat posed by a possible Jihader takeover of Syria.
The taboo still holds against recognition, in American public discourse, of Jihad as the most annoying - though certainly not the only - chronic menace to global security in our time.
Though it is a threat to us only because it is a threat to others, because of its possible bearing on the oil supply, and by way of blowback, it is still a threat that continues to be undervalued by our classe politique, even as their responses to individual attentats continue to be wildly, stupidly, and clumsily disproportionate.
Only that and the persistence of America's traditional national vanity can explain such pig headed and unquestioned prioritization of great power rivalry, putting the need for cooperation quite that far out of sight.
The concerns not to offend necessary Muslim allies or unnecessarily provoke Muslim enmity do not explain it.
Much less any legitimate concern not to inflame popular sectarian strife at home.
Putin spoke better than he knew.
And perhaps better than he meant.
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