Has it finally occurred to anyone why Putin was against the European Missile Defense Systems that America was planning to provide? Our "Cheap Suit in an Empty Chair" POTUS folded at the waist while hollering "Thank You, Sir may I have another!" on that issue.
Maybe not but it was sure on the list of your boss. Stupid reset button anyone?
That depends on what he defines as Ukraine's "fate". If the Russians choose to invade, no one, not even NATO, can stop it. It can attempt to reverse it, but an invasion decision is Putin's alone. What the West can do, well short of sending troops is, if Ukrainians choose to fight, supply the resistance with weaponry and other supplies. The rest is up to the Ukrainian resistance.
Robert Gates was kept on for one, and only one, reason - he would provide Obama with a fig leaf for the dismantlement of the US military. It’s not surprising that he’d attempt to camouflage his appeasement-minded actions with tough rhetoric.
Reagan saw the struggle as a world war with multiple theaters of war. Respond to the bombing of the Marines in Beirut with an invasion of Grenada.
Wrong and wrong, Mr. Chapman. By appeasing Putin from day one, Obama opened the door to this current action. He knew there would be no consequence and can do whatever he wants. There is a leadership vacuum in the world now because we essentially have no president when it comes to foreign affairs. Putin can do whatever the hell he wants with no real consequence. It started with the removal of the defense shield.
Chapman is just as wrong on this as one can be. Czech Republic and Poland wanted the missile defense, just as much as Iraq and Afghanistan wanted US forces to remain.
Obama made the decisions to pull the appeasement card in all of these cases and he trotted out Gates and others to make excuses for him.
The article misses the point. Putin objected to the missile shield BECAUSE he is giving back-door cooperation to Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But that aside, Obama’s cancelling of the missile shield got exactly nothing in return. It was a ‘gift’ to Putin. Give a tyrant a gift and he’ll demand more. THAT was Obama’s naivete at work.