There is much hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth today in Washington DC over Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine but this confrontation was lost years ago. Vladimir Putin has outwitted Barack Obama all along the way. The truth is, Obama is easy prey for Putin. Narcissists are prone to succumbing to the proper signals.
Hubris is the fuel that runs the Obama mind. It’s always been that way and we have documented that here often. Putin recognized it, having learned something from Obama’s predecessor. Putin and Obama met in July of 2009 and it was in that meeting that Obama was hooked with Putin saving the reeling in for later.
MOSCOW — President Barack Obama met for the first time Tuesday with the man most consider to be Russia’s top power broker, Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin — and came out of the meeting expressing a higher opinion of Putin than when he went in.
Obama managed a few strained smiles during a four-minute photo opportunity at the outset of the meeting, though he seemed wary of creating too cheery an image in the company of the former KGB officer.
“I’m aware of not only the extraordinary work that you’ve done on behalf of the Russian people … as president, but in your current role as prime minister,” Obama said during a breakfast meeting at Putin’s country home on the outskirts of Moscow. “We think there’s an excellent opportunity to put U.S.-Russian relations on a much stronger footing.”
Yet by the meeting’s end, Obama had revised his assessment of Putin and is now “very convinced the prime minister is a man of today and he’s got his eyes firmly on the future,” a senior U.S. official told reporters after the meeting concluded.
Putin knew exactly what to say to appeal to the Obama ego:
For his part, Putin spoke of Obama’s visit as an opportunity to remove a pall that had settled over exchanges between the two countries in recent years.
“The history of relations between Russia and the United States has very many different occasions and events of different, shall we say, color,” Putin said, as the two men sat in chairs in front of an ornate fireplace. “There were periods when our relations flourished quite a bit and there were also periods of, shall we say, grayish mood between our two countries and of stagnation. With you we link all our hopes for the furtherance of relations between our two countries.”
After that meeting, Barack Obama changed his Russia policy to one of projecting weakness. Soon after Obama decided to surrender the planned Eastern European missile shield:
With Iran, North Korea, and even Venezuela now pursuing nuclear programs in open defiance of international law, Obama has officially decided to dismantle our last line of defense against such dangerous rogue regimes. He insists that crippling our defensive capabilities in Europe and replacing them with Aegis cruisers capable of intercepting short-range missiles will somehow make us stronger.
But as we rush in to beat our chest and “confront” the immediate threat of Iran’s short-range missiles while doing nothing about their development of longer range missiles, we merely pretend to be addressing the problem, while actually surrendering completely. What’s really going on here is politics. We are using Bush’s missile defense shield as a bargaining chip against Russia and cashing it in for temporary, short-term concessions. Needless to say, this is incredibly unwise.
George Bush had secured construction of the missile shield in an agreement with NATO.
The Obama regime claimed that dropping the missile shield came about because of some new intel but Wikileaks proved otherwise:
The leaked documents indicate that Obama’s first eight months as president boiled over with Russian threats not to cooperate with the U.S. on any issue whatsoever (be it Iran, North Korea, space exploration, START negotiations, or anything else) barring cancelation of U.S. missile defense plans. During meetings with American officials, the Russians would repeatedly interrupt American diplomats who tried to discuss anything but missile defense.
The Kremlin’s message was this: you must capitulate on missile defense (and strategic arms), or else we won’t even discuss (let alone cooperate on) other issues. Eager to appease Russia, the Obama Administration naïvely surrendered missile defense plans on September 17, 2009.
Administration officials, including Obama and Bob Gates, are now falsely claiming that their surrender had nothing to do with Russia and was instead dictated by claimed new intel. Supposedly, Iran’s priority is now the development of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles rather than IRBMs and ICBMs (against which the Bush missile shield was designed to be effective).
But the leaked documents, reproduced by the NYT, show that the Iranians still prioritize the development and acquisition of long-range ballistic missiles.
During the 2012 Presidential campaign Obama was still doing his best to please Putin. He promised Putin even more “flexibility” if Putin gave him more “space.”
Obama, during talks in Seoul, urged Moscow to give him “space” until after the November ballot, and Medvedev said he would relay the message to incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Medvedev understood:
“I understand your message about space,” replied Medvedev, who will hand over the presidency to Putin in May.
“This is my last election … After my election I have more flexibility,” Obama said, expressing confidence that he would win a second term.
“I will transmit this information to Vladimir,” said Medvedev, Putin’s protégé and long considered number two in Moscow’s power structure.
Mitt Romney called Obama’s words “alarming and troubling.”
Shortly after Obama promising to bend over to Putin, Putin sent the message that Obama wasn’t accommodating enough:
WASHINGTON – Just days after reclaiming the Russian presidency, Vladimir Putin has canceled his planned visit to the United States, where he’d been scheduled to attend a major economic summit and meet with President Obama.
The White House confirmed in a statement late Wednesday that Putin told Obama on a phone call he’d be sending Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in his place. Putin claimed he was too busy finalizing cabinet appointments to make the May 18-19 G-8 Summit at Camp David. Yet the Obama administration had moved the gathering to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland from the planned venue in Chicago partly to accommodate Putin.
Whether or not the schedule change marked an intentional snub, the let-down comes less than a week after the nation’s military chief of staff warned that Russia would consider preemptive strikes, if a dispute with the United States over a Europe-based missile defense system worsens.
And Obama caved again.
In a presidential debate Obama castigated Mitt Romney for his opinion that Russia remained a geopolitical foe:
OBAMA: Governor Romney, I’m glad that you recognize that Al Qaida is a threat, because a few months ago when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia, not Al Qaida; you said Russia, in the 1980s, they’re now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.
But Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s.
Thing is, Romney was right. So was Sarah Palin.
After promising to do nothing about the Ukraine, Obama declared it “happy hour.”
Characteristically, the Obama regime could not resist taking a cheap shot at George Bush:
“We in this administration have not made it a practice to look into Vladimir Putin’s soul.”
What this proves, aside from how pathetic is the Obama regime, is just how fundamentally wrong Obama and the media are about Bush.
Much was made of Bush’s statement but all of it missed the point. Bush was doing to Putin what Putin later did to Obama. Play to his ego. And Obama swallowed it whole- hook, line and sinker.
The difference between Bush and Putin was that Bush never kissed Putin’s ass. He never knuckled under to Putin. Bush pulled out of the ABM treaty and secured the missile shield for Europe. They called him a cowboy.
Obama has done Putin’s bidding since. He wants Putin to like him. He wants everyone to like him.
Consequently, Obama fumbled the Iranian spring, screwed up Libya, dithered on Syria, is losing Iraq and Afghanistan and now projects nothing but weakness as he compromises the US military.
Obama lost the Ukraine years ago.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
I believe that President Obama’s handlers are not letting him become aware of any negative opinions about him or his actions. He is acting as if everything is fine in the world, the vast majority of citizens love him, and the rest of the world is looking to us for leadership.
Either that, or he is so out of touch with reality that he needs a canvas jacket and more meds.
I really appreciate your comment that Bush was playing to Putin’s ego when he spoke about looking into Putin’s soul.
Later, at the Bush ranch in Texas, Putin let slip his collectivist roots when he accepted a gift of Texan boots, saying, ”We were ISSUED cowboy boots.”
Putin has been a commie for his entire adult life.
@Petercat: It’s not that his “handlers” are keeping Red Barry “unaware” of the realities In fact, they are just an extension of the main puppet master. His handler is Vlad the Impaler (Putin) and the people surrounding him are all hard core Soviet Commie leaning folks who are doing exactly as their masters want them to do. Red Barry is hell bent on destroying this country and delivering it to the third world soviet sphere of influence.
Oh my goodness! Putin has moved his military into Crimea. Oh, no!
And Obama’s position is the weakest according to most observers. Obama is essentially doing nothing.
But wait! Obama has the Nobel peace prize. Whew! ??? Well, maybe not really.
Don’t be too surprized that the socialist, left-leaning jerk isn’t doing anything. AFTER ALL, OBAMA, WHISPERING ACROSS TO PUTIN AT A MEETING WHEN HE THOUGHT THE MICRPHONE HAD BEEN CUT, TOLD PUTIN THAT HE WOULD HELP HIM WHEN ELECTED.
There should be no doubt in anybody’s mind about where Obama is regarding his ISLAMIC-SOCIALIST POLITICS.
THINK ABOUT IT AND EDUCATE OTHERS WITH THE TRUTH ABOUT Barack Hussein Obama. Better yet, get him out of the White House for good!
I am startled and alarmed by how many parallels can be drawn between Hitler and Putin and the Ukrainian crisis and the Sudetenland crisis. Putin plays other politicians like a fiddle, just as Hitler did. Putin sees the weaknesses and fears of conflict in other leaders (using the term loosely here), just as Hitler did. I could very well be overstating this, but I feel this is a very, very critical situation and if Putin gets an indication that he will be able to occupy Crimea and possibly even Ukraine and suffer no serious consequences, he will go for more and more until he IS stopped.
I am the former resident of Crimea and Ukraine.
Crimea is 60% Russian. I mean ethnic Russian, not just Russian-speaking.
The “peaceful” neo-Nazis at power in Kiev said they woul “de-russify” Ukraine and make use of Russian language illegal which is a direct and imminent threat to the constitutional freedom of millions of Russians, especially in South and Eastern Ukraine.
Make no mistake and don’t be fooled by Cold War rhetoric. It is a grave mistake to compare Putin to Hitler. The smaller versions of hitler are in Kiev now. Putin’s ancestors, just like mine, fought against Nazis while the ancestors of Kiev “protesters” supported Hitler. Pure and simple.
Now, all of you, Americans, – ask yourself a question – What would America do if millions of Americans in a neighboring country were threatened.
And by the way…. I don’t really agree with Putin on his domestic policy, but that is a different story.
@Fyodor: If this is the case, then why is Putin not taking the issue before the UN? Why is armed invasion his first impulse?
And, make no mistake, it is no impulse; these operations take months to plan and while Putin has been playing nicey-nicey with the world in Sochi, he has had his plan in motion.
Comparing Putin to Hitler is not mere rhetoric; as I said, there are serious parallels to how the world was drawn into a global conflict in 1938.
Putin’s ancestors HAD to fight against Hitler and the Nazis because they made a pact with him to divide up Poland. Had Stalin not made the non-aggression pact with Hitler, the attack on Poland may have never happened or, if it had, the German General Staff might have overthrown Hitler. Stalin and the Soviet Union brought their misery upon themselves.
At least Putin had better excuses than Bush did when he invaded Iraq, with his made up fears of WMD.
The uber right wing of American politics has always heart Putin after all he is anti gay anti abortion now a strong supporter of the state Orthodox Catholic church and a real tuff guy to boot !! Obama has very limited options and Putin knows it, the American people are NOT going to support another war in Asia not for a very long time. We got burned twice under Bush on that even if we were told it would be a cake walk and the insurgency was always in its death throes.
Economically? Russia keeps 300% more in foreign exchange than we do any volunteers here to issue Ukraine the 35 billion it owes ?
Bottom line is Putin wants Crimea more than we want Ukraine. How much do YOU want Ukraine? willing to have another land war? or a Nuke exchange?
Perhaps also you didn’t notice that the only way to exit Afghanistan with the 1 million tons of gear we have there is through Russia. Unless you want to leave it behind for the Taliban it has to go through RUSSIA The Khyber has never been secure and going through Quetta well the tolls there are pretty high since that is home base for the Taliban
But why even bother to think about things like that ? JUST BLAME OBAMA
Has anybody thought about an exit strategy for Ukrainia?
Did you mean that Putin sucked Bush into invading Iraq and Afghanistan?
And that is what Obama has done to Putin, tricked him into invading a foreign country?
@john: I will never understand why the left will continue to cling to that ignorant, often disproved, weak, partisan mantra that Bush “lied” about the WMD’s. How many times does that excuse to damage American honor have to be buried?
So, you support Putin’s invasion of Crimea as the same as our search for WMD’s which ample quantities of intelligence clearly showed were in Iraq and could have easily been awarded to whatever terror group would like to deploy them in a city in the United States, huh?
The only people I have seen lovin’ on Putin has been the far left NBC, glorifying the decrepit and failed communist failure of the Soviet Union, which NBC, Putin, and I suppose YOU want to see restored. And, as with most things leftist, you don’t mind much what means are used to accomplish this restoration; even the threat of a European war, or worse.
We won two wars against terrorist foes, but the master tactician Obama squandered the gains, the victories, the lives and treasure spent and lost them. In this, Putin sees just the guy he wants to oppose and must quickly make his move now before an adult comes along to occupy the White House.
Obama and his weakness is a threat not only to US security but to world peace, for nothing stands between strong despots and subjugated people but us.
@john: It didn’t get there through Russia, master mind.
@john: Clinton’s lack of action resulted in us being in Afghanistan and Iraq, just as Obama’s projected weakness will assure we will be in many other conflicts after he is back making millions on the speech circuit.
What? Did Obama look into Putin’s eyes and see his soul like Bush did?
I remember how the media including Fox News was calling Bush weak when Russia invaded Georgia. Oh, wait. No they didn’t and he did nothing. But I remember when McCain ridiculously said “we’re all Georgians now,” Lol!
How quickly the right forgets when it’s convenient. Well….Obama got Russia to tell Syria to give up their chems, got Osama, got Khadaffi, Iran is ready to talk….We have a lot more respect than when the cowboy was threatening everyone and leading a coalition of mostly third world countries to invade innocent countries and kill millions.
And if you recall it was McCain who said we shouldn’t go in to Pakistan to get him. Obama knocked the doors down anyway.
If I were on the far right, I don’t believe I’d post an image that’s so revealing of the far right’s psycho-sexual pathology.
@Greg:
You mean being in the driver’s seat? 🙂
@Bill: when you read the history of hitler replace his name with obama. You will again be surprised how similar they are.
@Greg: What’s wrong with the activity depicted, Greg? What are you, a homophobe?
Ironically, the picture describes what Obama is doing to the entire country.
@Disenchanted: There are those parallels as well, as with how Obama uses propaganda, must always have a domestic enemy to vilify and blame for all the problems and using state power to beat down opposition. However, as we see in Putin v. Obama, Obama has none of the political acumen, ability or audacity that Hitler had. Unless he has the media to make believe everything is exactly as he says it is, he fails miserably. Obama does well against opponents hamstrung by following the Constitution (something he is not hindered by) but he is no world class politician. He cannot even compromise with Republicans.
does oblunder call putin Daddy?
@Disenchanted, #14:
Yeah, right. Maybe you could make a list of those similarities for us.
@Bill Burris, #15:
The display was tasteless enough when it involved a sadly confused young woman who doesn’t seem to understand the difference between an artistic performance and pornography. But it got a lot of attention, which can be converted to money, so it’s probably OK.
I keep expecting conservatives will show more appreciation for propriety and decorum. But then I keep forgetting that something strange has recently happened to conservatives.
@Greg: Hold that thought, Greg
@Greg: Obama and Cyrus are both engineered pop-stars that will be thrown under the bus when the time comes.
Their falls will both be much more valuable than their “success”.
Funny that the prez most virulent about being anti-business is a textbook toxic brand himself.
The parallel is apt.
Also, stop holding prejudices against people you don’t know. You’ve got a checklist of what “conservatives” are, and you might as well be a homophobe, racist, misogynist while you are at it. That’s how you sound…
Here’s a hint: Conservative is the new Liberal.
I love it when the progs attempt to defend their beloved little miss stomppy pants. The Peter principle proven beyond any reasonable doubt. With the added domed to failure of affirmative action.
@Greg: We are simply using the liberal playbook. By the way, Cyrus is not simply confused; she is encouraged by her success to continue to what got her success. As she rakes in the millions by her sickening antics, try to convince her she is on the wrong track. Nothing succeeds like success. It will undoubtedly lead to her own destruction.
Again, a similarity with the subject at hand. Putin is encouraged by the weakness expressed by the West to embark on adventure after adventure which will probably lead to his own destruction. The problem is, what collateral damage, huge, horrific damage, will be suffered?
Miley could take out a family in a station wagon as she speeds down a boulevard, stoned out of her mind. Putin could take out Europe.
John, could you elaborate on this comment in the context of the following items:
http://www.worldtribune.com/2012/12/07/flashback-un-inspectors-saddam-shipped-out-wmd-before-war-and-after/
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/25546334/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/secret-us-mission-hauls-uranium-iraq/
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/iraq.uranium/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-secretly-takes-yellowcake-from-iraq/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/world/africa/07iht-iraq.4.14301928.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/16/newsid_4304000/4304853.stm
Well, both being leftist socialists for starters.
Lol, Right! Iraq moved their WMD to Syria! Through tunnels hundreds of miles long to evade satellite surveillance? Get real.
Wrong:
“The yellowcake removed from Iraq – which was not the same yellowcake that President George W. Bush claimed, in a now discredited section of his 2003 State of the Union address, that Saddam was trying to purchase in Africa – could be used in an early stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. Only after intensive processing would it become low-enriched uranium, which could fuel reactors producing power. Highly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear bombs.”
Wrong:
Your link to: “1988: Thousands die in Halabja gas attack.”
Guess who gave them the chems? REAGAN!
Did Bush twerk Putin, or did Putin twerk Bush?
DrJohn
What if they are working together? It wouldn’t surprise me. Let’s look at facts. How many programs, executive orders, etc. has obama done that have actually HELPED the USA? Bringing down the missile shield is one example of how he is helping non-friendly countries. Only an idiot would think it would bring peace, and obama isn’t an idiot.
What if everything is going as obama has planned?
@Disenchanted: #15
Someone took the Declaration of Independence and changed it to fit what is going on with obama today. Almost all that you have to do is replace King of Great Britain with obama. It is amazing how little had to be changed:
I keep forgetting how George W. Bush’s decisive action put an immediate end to the Russian invasion of Georgia.
@This one: Hussein’s WMD program, including the nuclear program (which would have been used to enrich that uranium) was always kept ready to be reconstituted on short notice. It is also notable that Hussein didn’t deny he had WMD’s.
Just wondering, if Bush was the kind of scum that would involve us in a war in Iraq for whatever imaginary reasons you want to make up today or tomorrow, do you think he would have some sort of a plan for when, he must certainly have known, no WMD’s would be found? Wouldn’t such a nasty guy have had a scheme to put in place and “find” WMD’s? Conspiracies don’t arrive at the point where the perpetrator just says “oops. I guess we were wrong.” .
And, Iraq got its chemicals from Germany.
@Greg: Bush sent cargo aircraft loaded with supplies and equipment into Georgia. Not only did this support the Georgians but also kept the Russians from attacking more widely, since they would not want to harm Americans and face an actual leader of a super power. Now he is facing down Mr. Rogers.
That’s the talking point that’s been recently assigned to Collective Drones for routine parroting. Is the Collective saying that Bush should have taken a more combative approach?
You do realize of course, that the article you’re commenting on contains a satellite photo, right?
Can we just stipulate that progs lie. Their leader miss bicycle girly man lies, their Senator Reid lies, their congresswomen lie, all progs lie. It’s in their genes.
Who couldn’t see the Russian invasion of the Ukraine coming?
Obviously the Community Organizer in Chief and his gaggle of leftists.
This is replete with misinfo and disinfo. There is also much truth here, but vilification of existing enemies should not be the domain of partial truth-tellers.
@KD:
Could you be more specific please.
@Kraken, #34:
The reason so many people have made the same observation is because it’s totally obvious. No one who remembers recent history will have failed to notice the parallels between the Georgian situation and Crimea.
You’ve also been quick to jump from imaginary parrots to a second incorrect conclusion. I don’t believe Bush should have taken a more combative approach in connection with Georgia, and don’t fault him for any failure to do so. Restricting our reaction to public condemnation of Russia’s behavior was correct in the case of Georgia, and it’s also correct in the case of the Crimea. Those still caught up in John McCain’s Cold War mentality could have turned Georgia into a disaster. Instead, the dispute worked itself out without U.S. military involvement. The same course should be followed with Crimea. While Russia has overstepped its bounds, it’s important to remember that thus far no lives have been lost as a result of their military incursion. Having made their point and demonstrated their power, it’s in their own best interest that the situation be resolved peacefully. Russia has a legitimate national interest and concern. Ukraine should recognize that by guaranteeing Russia permanent, unrestricted access to the port city of Sevastapol. Doing so is in the best interest of both nations.
@Kraken, #35:
It’s been pointed out numerous times that the satellite photos show nothing more than the predictable movement of war materials from storage points—which had become obvious Coalition bombing targets—to the locations where they would be utilized in an effort to fight off an impending military invasion. There are no satellite pictures of Iraqi truck convoys crossing the border into Syria.
And, over the years of being totally blind to this idea Obama hasn’t bothered to learn anything.
Did you know that, back in 2005, Obama was calling for Ukraine to destroy ALL of their conventional weapons and ammo???
Yeah.
I bet every man, woman and family in Ukraine that still has a weapon, such as one of these is really glad Obama failed to destroy all of them.
What was the line in that old Clash song?
When they kick in your front door
how you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
or on the trigger of your gun
@Nanny G:
Didn’t another dictator tell his people that he was disarming them for their own safety and the safety of their children? And how did that work out?
@Nanny G, #42:
Ukraine is ethnically divided and has 18 separate languages. Large stockpiles of military armaments in such an environment isn’t necessarily a good thing. They could easily have turned recent internal instability into a full-scale civil war, or the Russian incursion into the Autonomous Republic of Crimea into a shooting war that wouldn’t have ended well for the Ukrainians. They’re going to have enough trouble sorting out their problems without further inciting Russia.
One particularly blockheaded move on the part of the Ukrainian central government was recent legislation to end the recognition of Russian as a second official language. More than one-half of the population of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are native Russian speakers. Apparently there’s something about the phrase “Autonomous Republic” that the Ukrainian government didn’t get.
Really? So how come all of these observations were published seemingly on the same day? Remember, Collective Drones don’t do independent thinking, obvious or otherwise.
Here’s the problem though. The parallels aren’t as clean cut as the drones in the Collective have been ordered to believe.
The Russian invasion of Georgia took place in August of 2008. President George W. Bush left office in January 2009. That’s six months if you count both August and January. Hardly the time for a lame-duck President to start a new war with Moscow, particularly when your forces are already engaged in two Middle Eastern wars, and you have little to no public support to start a third. Cheney wanted more action, but we can only image the gnashing of teeth that would have emanated from the uneducated anti-war crowd over intervention. President Obama has had six years to deal with the Russia-Georgia conflict, yet to this day Russia does not honor the cease-fire they signed. President Obama isn’t under pressure of having to hand off a new war in 5-6 months with regards to Ukraine; he’s got years ahead of him. Regardless, shouldn’t we at least wait 5-6 months before making Bush/Obama comparisons?
But more importantly, there was no precedent for Putin’s actions in 2008, the Bush Administrations was taken by surprise. Contrast 2008 with 2014. President Bush didn’t have any advisers that warned him of a potential Georgian invasion, or a historical precident. Not only does the Obama administration have a historical precedent with the 2008 invasion of Georgia, but they also had sober adults such as Mrs. Palin and Mr. Romney warning of this potential outcome publicly. Rather than being heeded, they were mocked by Collective Drones much in the same way that teenagers mock the warnings of their wiser parents, by attempting to camouflage childish snark with thesaurus mining. But that’s only half of the story. Not only were Mrs. Palin and Mr. Romney presciently correct, but simultaneously President Obama and rest of the Collective were horribly wrong. So much so, that it appears that we may actually need to revive the Cold War foreign policies of the 1980s. This of course is what the Collective’s new talking-point orders are intended to counter.
In regards to what President Bush actually did, his national security team considered air strikes to halt the invasion of Georgia, bombing the Roki Tunnel, giving stinger missiles to Georgian troops. Instead, President Bush sent humanitarian aid to the Georgians, and had a face-toface meeting with Putin in Beijing.
But let’s compare and contrast President Bush’s statements with those of Obama’s in response to the respective events.
President Bush states that invading a sovereign Democratic state unacceptable. He calls for an immediate ceasefire, a return to the military status quo, and to refrain from using force. He demands that Russia respect Georgia’s territory and sovereignty. He demands that Russia reverse its course.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/20/ukraine-crisis-obama-attacks-putin-over-russias-role
President Obama on the other hand, preferred to use a favored Collective catchphrase about the “wrong side of history,” a phrase which I’m sure has Putin in stitches. He tells the Ukrainian government that they have the primary responsibility to prevent violence. In other words, it’s up to the Ukrainians to find a peaceful way to surrender, since they’re on their own. President Obama apparently feels that he’s not in competition with Russia, a sentiment that I’m sure Putin is very grateful for. President Obama also cites the strong historic ties that Russia had to the Ukraine, which I’m not sure if the speech writer was fully aware of, since they don’t really teach about the Holodomor in college or high school these days.
Which message conveys serious strength?
Since Kerry recently called Putin invading Ukraine “not the act of somebody who’s strong,” and that President Obama and he “are not seeking confrontation,” I’m guessing that I may already know your answer to that question.
Really? I was pretty sure that I had asked a question. Are Collective Drones referring to questions as conclusions these days? It’s difficult to keep up with their grammatical fashion trends.
So you approve of Obama emulating Bush policies then?
How are the Abkhazians and South Ossetians faring these days?
So you’re saying that invasion is perfectly acceptable if the invaded surrender so that lives are not lost? Aren’t low-level Collective Drones supposed to be opposed to colonialism and imperialism?
What do you contend that is exactly?
By whom?
@Kraken, #45:
I would guess that might be because everyone became aware that Russian troops had entered Crimea on the same day.
If you want to see an example of the Group Think process, you might try visiting as many areas as possible of the right-wing echo chamber on any big news day, keeping count of how many times any particular story or meme—bogus or otherwise—is repeated verbatim.
Russia’s legitimate national interest is having unrestricted access to their only warm-water port at Sevastapol. They can be relied upon to protect that by whatever means are necessary. Also, they understandably want to maintain control of their natural gas pipelines.
@Kraken, #46:
By myself, at least, each time a picture has appeared along with an assertion concerning what it supposedly proves. Picture (of truck convoy leaving arms depot) + caption (“Trucks transporting Iraqi WMDs to Syrian border”) does not equal evidence of the alleged event. Maybe a sign should be added with an arrow, stating “This way to Syria.” One such article can be seen here. Roll your mouse pointer over the photograph to reveal the caption.
Good time to bring up Scott’s excellent series from 2007:
Did Saddams WMD Go to Syria? Part I
Did Saddam’s WMD Go To Syria? Part II
Did Saddam’s WMD Go to Syria? Part III
Did Saddam’s WMD Go to Syria? Part IV
Did Saddam’s WMD Go to Syria? Part IV
U.S. official: Iraqis told me WMDs sent to Syria
That doesn’t really make much sense. Remember, it is the Left that consistently refers to itself as collectives, collaboratives, cooperatives, and espouses the merits of collectivism, particularly in their academic hives. Just stop for a moment, and think about how wise you feel whenever you utter the word collective.
Remember, it is widely known that low-level activist drones now receive most of their thinking orders directly from OFA and/or professors.
Now, when people became aware that Russian troops had entered Crimea, flashback posts citing Mrs. Palin’s prescient warning, Mr. Romneys keen assessment, and the Collective’s retrospectively amusing mockery of both, began flying about the blogs. It was only after this, perhaps in response to this, that the nostalgic But-Bushing began in earnest. Not in response to piece by piece over the course of days mind you, but rather, all coming out on the same day. It’s almost as though the Obama administration ordered the Collective’s workers to issue thinking orders for the activist Drones at the bottom of the hive, but of course that’s just preposterous.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/obama-schmoozes-reporters-at-secret-meeting
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/obama-holds-record-meeting-msnbc-hosts-fox-news-juan-williams
And you’re saying that Ukraine should have no say in the matter?
Well that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? You don’t seem to offer much in the way of counter evidence other than your own commentary. Are we to believe that your commentary trumps satellite imagery in regards to evidence? What evidence do you have beyond your own commentary that the image and accompanying assertion are either incorrect or fraudulent?
This is particularly interesting.
And yet you did.
Your first comment on this thread was on March 3, 2014 at 2:35 pm:
It wasn’t until much later in the same day, at 10:43 pm, after writing two other comments, that you wrote:
So the question is then, if the observation were totally obvious, then why wouldn’t you have made that observation in your very first post at 2:35 pm, rather than waiting until 10:43 pm to write it, presumably after you had read the Collective’s thought orders on the matter?