"Defending the Sudentenland"
I hate to sound unpatriotic, and in no way am I sticking up for Vladimir Putin, but in any stare down between Putin and President Obama, put your money on Putin. The Russian leader has now put the ball back in Obama's court after the latter made his red line comment about "consequences" for Russian aggression in the Ukraine.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/01/crimean-leader-claims-control-asks-russia-for-help-in-restoring-peace/
This is a case of the chickens coming home to roost after years of a disastrous foreign policy by Obama, Hillary Clinton and now John Kerry. So what exactly is Obama going to do if Russia in fact, occupies the Russian-speaking Eastern Ukraine? Is he going to declare a'la George H.W. Bush that "it will not stand"? Is he going to send in the military to drive them out? I guess he could have kept the US Olympic team home, a'la Jimmy Carter but the Olympics in Sochi have just concluded. Maybe he could hand the ball off to Lady Catherine Ashton of the EU to mano a mano with Putin.
This is like rooting for the Cubs.
6 comments:
That's just the point. If you reduce the military you simply have no options. Nobody cares what you think. Obama has made us irrelevant in the world. He is an observer of events as they occur. He is indecisive about what to do, so he watches.
He has done that purposely and he will have hampered many presidents after him with the reduced military, staggering debt, incomprehensible foreign policy, a dependency society as his legacy.
Russia has one half of its Navy in the warm water port in the Crimia. It wants to keep it that way. The removed President, who loves Russia, would let Putin keep the port for an agreed 2043 stay. The previous president, who liked the West, only would allow the Russians to have the port until 2020, or less. In order to have Russia remain as a global power, they need the Crimian port. You can figure out the rest. There was a Security Counsel meeting this morning, that Obama missed. Appearantly, he is not worried about Russian global power. By the way, Putin is looking to secure 8 more ports, with some in South America, Cuba, Middle Eastern ports as well.
Squid'
Gary! This is your hero, Putin, the new leader of the free world! How could you even doubt! Why aren't you in his corner now, when the chips are down!
(As for the U.S., seriously dude, the U.S. does not have the wealth, the industry, or the will and determination, either on the part of civilians or on the part of the political establishment, to go to war with Russia over the Crimea. Its just not there. No president can make credible threats when this is obvious to the whole world. Maybe if we'd limited our operation in Afghanistan to six months of kicking butt, and stayed out of Iraq, we might have some capital to spend and some commitment to spend it. But that's all gone. Deal with it.)
Note to Miggie: If you insist on balancing the budget after several poorly thought out tax cuts, without raising any new revenue, the military is going to be reduced. The math always wins.
Squid has some sound realpolitik on this subject.
Of course I don't expect or want us to go to war with Russia over Ukraine. Would Russia invade us if we occupied Baja California? But this is the result of Russia n seeing that Obama is a lightweight. Poor diplomacy on his part against a strongman like Putin and we are back to the Cold War.
Great foreign policy, Obama.
IF we are NOT prepared to respond militarily, then the Russian action is NOT the result of "Obama being a lightweight." It is the result of Crimea being closer to Russia and farther from the United States.
You contradict yourself, sir. Exactly what, other than the hazard of military confrontation with the USA, would have stopped Putin from acting? Are you saying Obama should be better at making fierce faces on TV and making ominous pronouncements... that the whole world knows we're not going to back up with action because even Fousesquawk doesn't advocate that we should?
Talk is cheap.
Save the geography lesson. I have been to Ukraine twice. Of course, we are not going to war. Obama should have saved the red line and "costs" rhetoric. John Kerry going to Kiev for a photo op won't change anything either.
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