Seems Barack Obama is miffed at Vladimir Putin. So much so that he has canceled a bilateral meeting with the Russian President coincident with the G-20 Summit in St. Petersburg in early September. On Leno last night, our esteemed Statesman put forth this gem regarding Putin’s Russia:
“There have been times where they slip back into Cold War thinking and a Cold War mentality”
Such ill-informed and ill-considered commentary is endemic of this Administration’s lack of competence in the sphere of international relations. Obama has little concept of a “Cold War mentality”, and less of what Russia’s was during those 45 years. In addition, Obama has no real understanding that Soviet Russia was far more Russian than Soviet in its approach to diplomacy and geopolitics. And, thus, Russia is today what Russia has been for centuries. Russia remains xenophobic and deeply suspicious of its neighbors and the west. Putin, being a REAL Cold Warrior, is imbued with a soul-deep understanding of power politics and the value of economic and military leverage. He is not willing to come bearing Russian strategic interests for bargain like so many Pokemon cards.
Obama, on the other hand, has no feeling for power politics. In fact, he is loath to admit that they are the basis for relations between great national rivals such as the US and Russia. He and his foreign policy team are also willfully ignorant of history, and approach international affairs with a twisted and dangerous belief in moral equivalence, where allies, rivals, adversaries, and sworn enemies are all peers in some Model UN project being conducted at an Ivy League seminar. This situation partially explains why the US was an active participant in the “Arab Spring”, and the overthrow of two (almost three) admittedly repressive regimes that most represented US interests, and opened the window for Islamic Extremists to seize power in key nations. It explains Hillary Clinton’s imbecilic “Reset Button” concept to Russia, a nation with a history eight centuries of virulent conflict with the West, as if Putin will be willing to wipe away Russia’s heritage because Barack Obama brings Hope and Change with him.
One of the more enlightening quotes came from one of this Administration’s staunchest supporters, uber-liberal Senator Chuck Schumer.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that “Putin doesn’t deserve the respect after what he’s done with Snowden.” “I know what he’s doing. He’s trying to make Russia a big power again…”
Yes, Chuck, he is. He said he would, and he has acted on those words. You and your colleagues on the far-left are the ones who refuse to acknowledge his ambitions for Russia and himself. If you did, perhaps you wouldn’t be actively eroding the power of your own country so that it will no longer be a great power.
Obama has far more to talk to Putin about than Putin does Obama. This bit of childish petulance on the part of the American President is indicative of the dangerously ineffectual US foreign policy path. Yes, Putin does deserve respect. He is acting in what he perceives are the best interests of his country.
O, that we should have a President who even knows what America’s best interests are, let alone with the courage of conviction, diplomatic acumen, and mastery of statecraft to act upon them. Seems the “flexibility” Obama promised to Putin includes such foolish charades as this.