Something We Would Never Hear from Putin

The headlines are awash today with the dramatic quotes from the former Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Alan Greenspan, who in simple and unequivocal language directly assumed some responsibility for the current financial crisis: “I made a mistake.” It takes a big man to admit he is wrong, and I think it is commendable to see Greenspan not shy away from accountability. It strikes me as very poignant to think of the deep impossibility of ever seeing Vladimir Putin or any other high ranking Russian official take a similar action, be it for Yukos, the Kursk, Beslan, Nord Ost, the crisis, or any other major problem of contemporary Russia. It would just simply never happen with this administration, and that, in and of itself, is worrying.