Kristol wrote this Saturday at The Weekly Standard:
One suspects that President Putin isn't very worried about affirmations of future costs by the international community. He's seen Bashar al-Assad survive similar affirmations. Putin, like Assad, understands actions, not affirmations.
So will Obama now move beyond affirmations to actions? Will Obama get Brussels, Berlin, Paris, and London to begin to isolate the Putin regime diplomatically, politically, and economically? Will Obama lead our allies to move the G-8 meeting from Russia, disinvite Putin, refuse visas to Putin's cronies to travel abroad, and expose and tie up bank accounts he and his buddies have in the West? Will Obama expedite the admission of Georgia to NATO, and begin to move toward a security relationship with Ukraine? Will Obama canvass his administration to discover the many other things that could be done to begin to undermine Putin at home and abroad? Will Obama act so that the Russian people and Russian elites see that Putin's actions have costs—real costs, not the affirmation of the possibility of costs?
Or will we be all talk, no action?
Obama and Kerry are playing checkers, and Putin and company play chess. Obama the community organizer leading his free shit army obviously cannot compete with the KGB trained Putin. Checkmate again Obama. Stick to Saturday Night Live.
ReplyDeleteyou're kidding, right? Putin is only looking worse from this step back to the Cold war era. In contrast Obama is looking to be the voice of reason and will ultimately be on the right side of history. Respect that the US has matured from our follies of the Bush admin is growing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that insightful and thoughtful first comment.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Putin is the big loser here. He has diminished his standing, and now appears as another George W. Bush in the eyes of the world - a small man willing to go to war to satisfy his own ego.
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