Clueless: Obama Still Trying To ‘Reset’ with Russia
“There have always been rumors because I have written about certain subjects that that is what I am coming to do here. That’s crazy. Just because you write about cancer doesn’t mean you advocate cancer. I’m a social scientist. I’ve written about democratization, but that’s my previous life.”
That was our new ambassador to Russia speaking to the New York Times about his first week in the country. It was an amazingly candid statement — Michael McFaul openly admitted that neither he nor his boss Barack Obama intend to stand up for American values in any way or form.
An American advocate democracy? That would be, in McFaul’s own words, “crazy.”
What McFaul and Obama intend to do instead is “execute and deepen and strengthen” the now-infamous Obama “reset” policy with Russia, a policy with which McFaul stated he has been “intimately involved every step of the way.” They will do this so they can try to claim some type of foreign policy success in connection with Obama’s reelection bid.
Buzzing like a schoolboy on Twitter, McFaul announced: “This is going to be fun.” Then he stated his modus operandi:
All in the open, all the time. Secrets only reinforce stereotypes. Cold war over long ago. Our time to do differently.
Cold War over? The Russians didn’t get that memo.
Simultaneously, they were threatening the United States with cold war (indeed, maybe even hot) on three different fronts: Syria, Iran, and space. Russia announced a major new sale of military aircraft to Syria, and warned the West that Russia would not tolerate any form of military intervention in either Syria or Iran. Then Russia blamed the United States for using its secret evil powers to down a major Russian space probe. Pravda read just like it was still being written by the Politburo.
It’s easy to see why Obama is so drawn to Russia. His willingness to simply lie about basic facts — and his belief that the American public is so clueless that he can get away with it — is truly neo-Soviet in nature. McFaul actually tweeted a photo of Obama about to call Dmitri Medvedev soon after taking office, as if the world wouldn’t remember how Medvedev’s “presidency” has been exposed as a Potemkin sham, and Obama as a naïve sucker who fell for Putin’s gambit.
McFaul has filled his Twitter feed, supposedly about Russia, with shameless propaganda about Obama’s “brilliant” staff and his economy that “works for everyone.” What he hasn’t seen fit to mention are issues like the exclusion of Russia’s leading mainstream opposition politician, Grigory Yavlinsky, from the March presidential ballot despite gathering over two million signatures in support of his candidacy. The Kremlin simply claimed a quarter of the signatures were bogus and tossed him out.
Nor has McFaul seen fit to mention any of the vicious, vitriolic anti-American hatred spewing from high-ranking Kremlin officials over Syria and Iran. Instead, in a particularly telling tweet, he asked Congress to unilaterally repeal the Jackson-Vanik amendment that demands human rights concessions from Russia, just as Obama previously unilaterally withdrew the U.S. missile defense commitment to Eastern Europe.
He’s actually rewarding Russians for stating they wish to kill us.
As former Bush State Department official Paul Saunders explains, the “reset” is blowing up in Obama’s face. The Russians won’t even tolerate the propaganda smokescreen of empty rhetoric and meaningless gestures towards democracy that Obama needs to cover his tracks. When McFaul had a brief meeting with opposition leaders during his first week, state-controlled media exploded in vitriol.
“The Kremlin’s forces have been quite clear in warning the U.S. that it better not elect a Republican in November, lest it face global war, both hot and cold, from Russia.”
What a better way to prove that the Russians, like just about everybody else in the world, hold the United States in utter contempt and are actually afraid of a Republican taking over the in November. Shows you just how weak and pathetic the Obama administration is when it comes to foreign policy. Even if Obama is replaced in November, the new president is going to have a lot to do to restore America’s standing in the world. When you even have crummy little countries like Egypt, Syria, and Libya, a country we even helped, basically spitting at us, then you KNOW you have problems. This SO reminds me of when Carter was president and what an utter failure he was in foreign policy (aside from the Camp David accords, which only proved that both Egypt and Israel were sick of fighting each other). Once Reagan came into office, the whole world literally changed and not only did we regain the respect we needed, but also the fear. And fear goes a long way in getting what you want in foreign policy.
Don’t forget the north. They have become far more aggressive about pushing further into the Arctic in an attempt to lay claim to the oil and minerals.
“Nor has McFaul seen fit to mention any of the vicious, vitriolic anti-American hatred spewing from high-ranking Kremlin officials over Syria and Iran”
Why would he? The Russians are only saying in public what Obama and his ilk say in private. But your premise is wrong, Obama is not clueless as he’s getting exactly what he wants from Russia. Peace and prosperity won’t advance his agenda, just as it won’t advance Putin’s agenda. The left moves forward on the discarded and crushed bodies of those it “helped”.
and then there is the fact that russians are better at implementing communism– “why the worst rise to the top”– and they were the ones who first infiltrated our culture and filled those initial heads of mush (the current obamanation) with delusions of grandeur and collective utopias
It’s hard to figure out just what O’Bummer is after. So it seems, he just waits for his puppeteers (the “brains” behind him) to tell him what’s up.
There’s lots of rhetoric about bombing Iran (though even Israel says Iran doesn’t have nuclear bomb capability) and I wonder if that IS the plan to get into WWIII with Russia and China over Iran to Eliminate some of those pesky peasants who make the world “less green”.
O’Bummer is a strange bird and there’s no telling what he’ll do, especially since he lies so much that it’s a safe bet that whatever he says he’ll do, he’ll do the opposite.
Perhaps the Russia which Obama “sees” is that of Duranty.
(Well, actually I meant “Walter”, but if comedy is as good a metaphor as treason, then I’m fine with “Jimmy.”)
Vladimir Zhirinovsky is alone enough of a reason to believe that the Cold War is NOT over.
At one time he declared he wanted Alaska back. He even had a map behind his desk showing the new Russia if he had his way…
Obama is very consistent, he never tires of pursuing his ideas no matter how many times they have failed for others and himself. He calls it keeping his eye on the prize.
…Helping the U.S. advance its foreign policy in the Middle East simply isn’t consistent with Putin’s worldview.
So far the U.S. advancement of its foreign policy in the Middle East already replaced a bunch of brutal, secular totalitarian regimes, with more *democratic* but no less brutal Islamic regimes. Yay. Although the current Russia’s foreign policy is a mess, they do have a point there.
Also, regarding Yavlinski. He does not deserve to be touted as “Russia’s leading mainstream opposition politician”. There is no mainstream opposition in Russia to begin with. Just a number of small irrelevant political factions and *state-run* parties like LDPR or KPRF. And if it came down to elections, i would be surprised if he gained more than 5% of voters support. Rigged or not. Whether political or not, his omission from the presidential race has no significance whatsoever for the wave of dissent taking place today. His case is made to sound much louder than it actually is in Russia.
http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/the-first-time-i-heard-of-barack-by-tom-fife/
Ever hear of Tom Fife?
Obama is weak and weakness only encourages contempt and escalation. Hense our problems in Russia and the Middle East.
Romney take note, no bowing!!
Liberals believe the wrong side won the Cold War. Obama’s reset is trying to surrender to a foe we beat over 20 years ago.