America has become a paper tiger with cardboard teeth, and nobody
knows this better than Vladimir Putin. Who can blame him? Some of Barack
Obama's red lines are missing, and he can't remember where he put them.
He
drew a red line across Iran and warned that a nuclear weapon in the
hands of the mullahs in Iran "is unacceptable." Since he didn't say what
the meaning of "is" is, or the meaning of "unacceptable," either, he
left it to others to define what he meant with his defiant language.
The
president likes words, and can spin them together better than most, but
words, however heroic and inspiring, are cheap in the hands of a man
who doesn't believe a word of them.
Mr. Putin's adventuring into
Ukraine was clearly carefully thought out. He looked for evidence that
Mr. Obama was merely a blowhard and a con man, fooling most of the
people most of the time.
He might fool enough foolish American
voters to give him two terms in the office once held by Lincoln, two
Roosevelts, Harry S. Truman and Ronald Reagan, but he wouldn't fool an
old KGB hand, who, evil or not, is experienced in recognizing the weak
spot inviting attack.
Mr. Obama's fondness for heroic rhetoric —
in crises in Egypt, Iran, Syria and now Ukraine and Crimea — backed up
by nothing more than a smile and a shoeshine (and not even a necktie),
represents a target too rich for a villain to ignore.
Mr. Obama
warned everybody to behave, telling Viktor Yanukovych, president of
Ukraine before he was driven from office by democracy protesters, that
"there will be consequences if people step over the line."
He
dispatched a national security adviser to say that brutal repression in
Ukraine is "completely outrageous" (which is apparently worse than
merely "outrageous").
Mr. Obama thinks his words are enough to
slow down evildoers, with no follow-through necessary. He never learned,
because he is neither a student of America, nor of the American
presidency.
He's just not very interested in the America he was
elected to govern. He arrived at the White House promising a "reset" of
relations with Mr. Putin and the Russians, apparently unaware of what he
wanted to reset, and unaware that Russia dreams of restoring itself as a
great power and is willing to do anything to achieve it.
(Click link below to read more)
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- Judy Chaffee
- This site is the inspiration of a former reporter/photographer for one of New England's largest daily newspapers and for various magazines. The intent is to direct readers to interesting political articles, and we urge you to visit the source sites. Any comments may be noted on site or directed to KarisChaf at gmail.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
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