I'm somewhat dumbfounded by how our President views the world. In reiterating his view on Russia's take over of Crimea as an act of weakness rather than strength, I wonder how many Ukrainians feel the same way. It's not so easy with an army an eyeball away.
He also views Russia as merely a regional power rather than a world power. Shall we try both? We do have things in common. Both our economies are weak, both of our militaries are being depleted.
We also have great differences. Putin's image is one of strength. Obama's is one of weakness. If Obama's thoughts about al Qaeda and it's off shoots are that they're strong enough to attack us he can thank Mr. Putin for it. After all Putin is the one who has negotiated the deals with the likes of Syria and Iran that have allowed us to negotiate with them too. The problem is he got their cooperation; we've gotten nothing. Now, which one is strong and which one isn't?
The Europeans are reluctant to hop on the sanctions band wagon because of their economic ties with Russia. Retaliation from Russia isn't in their cards. Our Congress is dithering over what should be in a Ukraine aid package. Putin plans his next move. He's in no hurry. He has three years left to toy with us.
It's tit for tat I suppose. If that's how you want to look at it. To me, however, what is of utmost importance is which of our adversaries has the capability to get a bomb over here? It isn't Afghanistan nor the terrorist organizations that use it for a play ground.
Pakistan has nukes but would they dare? Russia has nukes. They'd dare and wouldn't much care. After all, it would do away with that pesky Obama. Putin is like a cat toying with a mouse. The outcome depends on how long it takes him to get bored. He could walk away from it. Or he could put it out of its misery. He's just not that weak. So just maybe we shouldn't brush off Russia quite yet.
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