Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How Obama’s White House Lost Ukraine in a Few Stupid Steps
Yahoo News ^ | 4-22-2014 | Patrick Smith

Posted on 04/21/2014 10:05:06 PM PDT by tcrlaf

No one wants to say so, but the Obama administration has backed the wrong horse in Ukraine, and the misguided wager is a big loss. It is hardly the president’s first failure on the foreign side, but it may prove the costliest of his many to date.

For a while it was possible to pretend, just barely, that supporting the coup against Viktor Yanukovych, the elected president hounded into exile in February, would prove a sound judgment. Obama always came across as a welterweight in the ring with Vladimir Putin, simply not up to the Russian leader’s command of all available moves. But one could imagine Secretary of State Kerry clearing an exit corridor with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

For a while it looked as though the provisional government in Kiev might prove worthy of bailout funds from the U.S., the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund, despite the new regime’s legitimacy problems. Putin took (back) Crimea and prompted little more than impotent bleating, true. But there was hope that this new bunch could hold together what remained of the nation at least until the elections scheduled for May 25.

It is all by the boards now. Regardless of how you may construe these past six months in Ukraine, we have just watched a failed effort to wrest the nation straight out of Russia’s sphere of influence and insert it into the West’s. It is now easy to conclude that the second-term Obama White House has not one foreign policy success to its credit and none in prospect.

Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Mideast, Syria, China, and probably Iran in coming months: Nothing ad hominem here, but figuratively speaking, the failure-prone Kerry has crashed more helicopters in the desert than Jimmy Carter ever ordered airborne.

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agitprop; obama; obamaforeignpolicy; obamaukraine; putin; putinsbuttboys; russia; secstatekerry; ukraine; ukrainecrisis
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-27 last
To: Pining_4_TX

We should get riled over the foreign dictator here, IMHO..


21 posted on 04/22/2014 12:08:42 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Cementjungle; 4rcane

You mean like this?

“The report makes clear that the US entered into the Geneva agreement with Russia, purportedly to “deescalate tensions” in Ukraine, in bad faith, intending to use Russia’s supposed breach of the deal as justification for expanded sanctions and a further aggressive buildup of US and NATO forces in Eastern Europe aimed at encircling and strangling Russia.
The dispatch of US troops to Poland is a reckless and provocative move that heightens the very real danger not only of civil war in Ukraine, but of war by the US, Germany and NATO against Russia, a nuclear power. It underscores the fact that the crisis in Ukraine was deliberately provoked by Washington to create the pretext for a political, economic, diplomatic and military offensive against Russia that had long been in the planning.”


22 posted on 04/22/2014 12:16:28 AM PDT by ansel12 ((Libertarianism offers the transitory concepts and dialogue to move from conservatism, to liberalism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: tcrlaf

1. Let the Clown seize power in 2009.

2. Let the Clown continue to seize power in 2013.


23 posted on 04/22/2014 2:25:27 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tcrlaf
They say a picture is worth a thousand words,

but we do have Joe Biden over there to straighten things out.

24 posted on 04/22/2014 2:32:30 AM PDT by McGruff (You believe what your government tells you. Don't you?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 4rcane

I’m so glad that everything that happens in Ukraine can be defined as either Russian or fascist, leaving no room for folks who simply prefer freedom. /sarc


25 posted on 04/22/2014 4:50:23 AM PDT by Pecos (The Chicago Way: Kill the Constitution, one step at a time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: sheik yerbouty

Now that is the truth! The MSM likes to keep Ukraine and other things in the news to distract from what King Obeyme is doing to us here.


26 posted on 04/26/2014 9:43:47 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Pining_4_TX

His Royal swineness is getting more frenzied of late. IMHO, he will do something very stupid(even for him)..


27 posted on 04/27/2014 2:05:35 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-27 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson