Posted on 03/26/2014 5:23:52 PM PDT by jazusamo
Geopolitics: President Obama dismisses Russia as a "regional power" while Secretary of State Kerry pronounces the Monroe Doctrine dead. Meanwhile, the world watches, stupefied, as Russian ships move to our doorstep.
Trash-talking a nation that just swallowed up a chunk of its neighbor and upended the global order doesn't seem like a very thoughtful strategy, given the weakness of U.S. sanctions following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.
But that was what President Obama seemed to be doing Tuesday in claiming Russia was nothing but small fry in world affairs.
"Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors — not out of strength, but out of weakness," Obama sniffed. By invading Ukraine, "the fact that Russia felt compelled to go in militarily and lay bare these violations of international law indicates less influence, not more."
A regional power? According to Obama's own Department of Defense, the Russian empire — which now encompasses nine time zones — has never been more expansive. And now it's getting involved in our hemisphere.
Russia once tried to set up military bases in Cuba (in 1959), Chile (1970) and Nicaragua (1980) — and now it's talking about doing the same in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. It's also getting more venturesome in its submarine excursions around U.S. Gulf ports, laying groundwork for something, but what?
Regional powers don't act this way. But nuclear powers with revanchist aims do — and it doesn't pay to dismiss them.
These moves didn't happen yesterday or in any tit-for-tat response to the sanctions the West hastily cobbled together against Russia for its takeover of Crimea. They are the result of methodical planning that Russia's leaders have been doing for years in projecting power.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
Yeah, but I bet those EU dolts clapped with glee for the Clown.
The wannabe ghetto boy thinks dissing another gang will make it melt away!
“revanchist”
Hmmm.. Learnt me a new word.
Me too, had to look it up.
LOL, me too.
By terms of the willingness to use what they have, Russia and China are one and two in any list of world powers. We will only use it in the furtherance of leftist or Islamic movements against dysfunctional governments. In the case of Syria, we lose when a grownup enters the game.
Sure, sure. I guess that's why Poland has called up its reserves.
DINGBAT.
If Russia is a regional power, then what are we? We definitely have no influence on even the poorest countries overseas, but we also have no influence over the countries in our own backyard.
Yep, 0bama has ignored many of our allies overseas or insulted them and countries in our own hemisphere ignore him.
I’d say he’s a joke but it’s not funny, more appropriate to say he’s a traitor.
"Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors - not out of strength, but out of weakness"...
Well said, and that applies to many other of our adversaries.
Why... So it does, so it does.
Revanchism (from French: revanche, “revenge”) is a term used since the 1870s
to describe a political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses
Don’t know where I’ve been but had never heard of it. :-)
same here....but i'm a gonna use it now.
I wish we had a strong Pres. who would go right now and set Cuba free while there is unrest in Venezuela. We have a Navy base on Cuba already, the ability to land airplanes, ships, whatever we need. Let’s roll.
But I bet Obama will help Russia to take it over first.
Obama vs. Putin? Nothing could be further from the truth.
Snowden has everything that Putin needs to know; this charade of them being at odds is comical, were it not so serious.
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