Obama’s Unilateral Concession Emboldens Putin
And Obama is helping him right along. Golts makes clear that the present U.S. shield capacity does not even threaten Russia:
It is a purely political story. The American strategic missile-defense system cannot now or in the foreseeable future threaten Russia’s nuclear potential. At present, the Americans have deployed about 50 missile interceptors that could — and many experts doubt this — potentially intercept five to 10 warheads. Russia will have more than 1,500 nuclear warheads. So we are talking about a political game.
Yet, Putin believes he can manipulate Obama into abandoning the possibility to expand shield technology and thus save Russia from the disastrous “Star Wars” arms race instigated by Reagan that ultimately brought down the USSR without a shot being fired.
And there is more. Russia is building a natural gas pipeline called Nord Stream whose purpose, according to Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, a former foreign minister of Denmark, is “to enable Russia to interrupt gas supplies to EU member countries like Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine, while keeping its German and other West European customers snug and warm.” Once this maneuver has been completed, Russia will have a choke hold on the entire former Soviet space, from Georgia to Lithuania, and will be able to combine military and energy threats to force this territory back under the Russian jackboot.
Putin has no reason to believe Obama will ever take a stand on any issue. He has no reason to believe he has anything but a free hand to lay waste in former Soviet space while imposing a final crackdown on civil society within Russia itself (Putin is moving aggressively to cut his nation off from Internet access and will likely soon return to formal power as some type of “president for life”). And once Putin has consolidated his malignant regime in a neo-Soviet state, assuming oil prices remain high he will be able to fund a new cold war against the democracies of the West.
It’s not hard to imagine that Obama, like Chamberlain at Munich or FDR at Yalta, genuinely believed that the force of his personality and his good intentions would cause Russia to respond to unilateral concession in the spirit of brotherhood with concessions of its own.
One wonders if Obama has any understanding at all of what it means to be a career KGB man like Putin, spending decades marinating in the acid of anti-American hatred. From all appearances, Obama knows nothing about the string of political murders that have shadowed Putin from his first days in the Kremlin, including most recently the attorney Sergei Magnitsky.
And that means big trouble for democracy and freedom, and for American national security.
Clinton, and Obama have made quite a mess of these issues with Russia;
Clinton with her outrages ‘reset’ or ‘overcharge’ button, and Obama throwing our allies under the bus.
Hopefully, the damage can be repaired in 2012, but I am not so sure.
“One wonders if Obama has any understanding at all of what it means to be a career KGB man like Putin, spending decades marinating in the acid of anti-American hatred.”
No to the KGB man part, but yes to the marinating in the acid of anti-American hatred part. All it took for Obama was obviously dishonest denials on Ayers and Wright. Like Putin, Obama seems to believe he can say or do anything and get away with it. How Obama can combine such Putinesque duplicity with the naivety to be caught off-guard by Putin is a pathetic mystery.
Obama as the supplicant gets America nothing; however, Obama will still not aknowledge his mistakes. A narcissist never admits to his own mistakes since he believes he does not have any.
America is only going to grow weaker under the new President,with his multi trillion dollar bailouts and Putin has only to bide his time, just a reversal of the 1980′s scenario,when Russia was falling apart.
If Putin is as Machiavellian as many say, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to form a union of mutual protection or some such with his former satellite Nations,to the de facto exclusion of NATO.
The world of international politics is a lot more complicated than community organizing in a big American city. So far,Obama looks like the rookie he is on the world stage, and China and Russia certainly don’t view him as they did Reagan.
I am going to indulge myself and re-post a comment I made some time ago – I see no occasion to change a word of it:
Why did anyone really expect much more from Putin? A “pure product of soviet education”, as he has described himself with ingratiating and entirely bogus self-deprecation, he was sucked into the KGB as a teenager and it has entirely shaped his moral view. Witnss the fact that his model of the selfless, uncorrupt public servant – he has stated this often and publicly – is Yuri Andropov, a brutal and (as the Mitrokhin papers have revealed) paranoid thug and murderer. He has promoted and cosseted his former security service colleagues, and restored the FSB to something like the privileged lawless position of its predecessor. He said openly at the time of his accession to the presidency that Russia would not be suitable for liberal democracy for a century and probably never.
Putin’s geostrategic aims don’t go much beyond a truly devilish wish to thwart the USA at every turn, and to restore, opportunistically as the occasions present themselves, the Soviet sphere of influence. This is the legacy of the secret policeman when the last pretensions to a noble ideology are shattered.
In pursuit of the former goal, he will do anything he can get away with, and make any secret pact that he can.
He is truly a vile little bastard, and ought not to be trusted an inch.
I would add: he and his “president” will mouth vague platitudes about bringing Iran to the table, and even support meaningless sanctions, but they will in fact protect Iran and its nuclear plans at every turn, knowing that the grateful mullahs will never allow nukes into the hands of Russia’s (sunni) insurgency. Vladimir’s friends.
does anyone here have a high school diploma? please raise your hand!!
Obama’s decision in this Eastern European affair (actually an American defense affair) was awful, bordering sedition -
Yet, there were some people who bought it (the types who thought that Obama’s goin to get the Olympics at Copenhagen), anticipating some mighty concessions from Putin and Medvedeev, and this extended a bit Obama’s lease on presumed wisdom and political foresight –
And now, we’re stuck with this “reset” button, and the Russians have full initiative in this, and other affairs -
God, proud am I that I’m not a Democrat!
RE: mr: [...] does anyone here have a high school diploma? please raise your hand!! [...]
Kevin Jennings sir, our school safety czar – as soon he’s gonna extract his hand from his assistant’s ass he’ll proudly raise it!
misanthropicus @8, Well put.
It really scares me that people like mr. moron think this pres is doing the right things geo-politically.
We may not make it to 2012! Russia is clearly on the move, Iran is days away from going ape-sh&@ on their own people and will likely have a nuke to pop on anyone who tries to intervene. bho will end up sentencing millions of people to another half century behind another iron curtain or sand pit just like fdr.
If we do get sucked in somehow, I think obama will try to claim that we can’t can him in the middle of a shooting war w/ a serious contender, and he’ll never acknowledge it was his doing, but, as is his MO, he’ll say it was Bush!
out
misanthropicus @8, well put!
It truly scares me that people like mr moron think this pres is doing the right things geopolitically.
#6 mr
I wouldn’t usually waste time attempting to engage trolls or good old-fashioned bolsheviks, but I’m curious: which parts of Zigfeld’s article do you take issue with? Don’t weasel out; be specific.
#6 mr
I wouldn’t usually waste time attempting to engage trolls or good old-fashioned bolsheviks, but I’m curious: Which parts of Zigfeld’s article do you take issue with? Don’t wesel out; be specific. Do you contend that Putin is NOT attempting to restore the old russian sphere of influence?
Mr. Putin vs. Mr. Obama …
One is a narcissist, and the other is a narcissist. One is a dictator, and the other is a would-be dictator. One is a wrestler, and the other plays with words.
Which will win?
Putin would easily break Obama’s spine (assuming he has one) in the ring.
However, this is not a game. If Putin wins his sparring-match with Obama, the West will lose, and Obama’s weakness will make this happen.
This brings me to the other match, which is being played out before us, at this moment. National politics is not a game. Millions of lives are at stake, literally. If the American people do not choose the right people on 2 November of this year, and then in the election cycle of 2012, the bloody struggles of the 20th Century will end with a belated victory on the part the authoritarians, by default.
All of my life, I’ve been of the opinion that every election was the most important election of US history. Never has this been more true than 2010 and 2012.
Stop, step back, take a deep breath.
The USA won the cold war for a reason. The Soviets lost the cold war for a reason. The underlying factors have not changed. The USA will win another cold war for the same reasons it won the last one. Russia will lose another cold war for the same reasons it lost the last one.
Spending too much money on ICBM’s and nukes is one of the reasons the Soviets lost the cold war. If Pootie wants to take Russia down that same road, let him. There is a technical term used to describe people that do the same thing over again in the same situation while expecting different results. It is “stupid”.
Russia isn’t going to nuke America. America isn’t going to nuke Russia. SDI won’t stop a Russian ICBM attack. It wasn’t designed to. It can be rebuilt to blunt a Russian attack, but there is no reason to spend that much money,
SDI will work fine against a minor nuclear power. Any of them except Russia, or maybe the English. Since neither Russia or England is going to launch nuclear missiles at the USA, there is no reason to get worked up over Pootie’s hot air.
Plus you should never forget that Russia is continuing the Soviet tradition of building weapons that barely work. It was NOT an accident that US weapons have outrageous kill rates against Soviet weapons. The Soviets ( then, Russians today) claim that the problem with their weapons were the operators. Russians claim a lot of things.
Their propaganda is first rate, world class.
30 years after the break-up of the Soviet Union, there are more and more nations that are buying American weapons that used to buy Soviet weapons. So the operators are the same. Guess what. Those operators say that Russian weapons suck. There are a double handful of nations that have switched from the MiG-29 to the F-16. Every one says the F-16 is better then the MiG-29. This is just an example. All up and down the line, US weapons are better then Russian ones. WAAAAY better. Lakers vs USC better.
So Pootie can talk the talk all he wants. His ICBM’s cannot walk the walk. If he pushed the button maybe 60% would actually lift off. About half those will fly off course and about 25% of the rest won’t work when they hit their target. Or somewhere close to the target.
#6
Predictably, mr, like a vodka-sodden old bolshevik, can’t actually engage with an argument.
Putin is not being aggressive, he’s encouraging a fellow communist that hates America. Actually, I think Putin likes America but hates the garbage that is leading it. Maybe he should run for President. I WOULD VOTE FOR HIM OVER A TRAITOR LIKE oBAMA.
DH
Obama reaches into a corner of his mind that his elitist drivel has locked away to learn Putin has betrayed him–just like the Soviet Union betrayed President Jimmy Carter (they promised):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5duzH4WzIA&feature=related
Dark Helmet – ludacris speed, go! Seriously, The Asia Times columnist already recommended Putin for President of the U.S. in 2008:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JA08Ag01.html
Re: Samford “The USA will win another cold war for the same reasons it won the last one.” there isn’t going to be another Cold War, because the U.S. is going bankrupt and we can’t borrow the money from the Chinese we need to fight them AND the Russians at the same time. You’re forgetting Beijing wasn’t also a big fan of the missile defense shield which to actually work would require militarizing outer space. And they’re the ones buying half the U.S. Treasuries. So unless you want to slash that $600 billion defense budget in half overnight and gut all entitlements and have unemployed Obamaville camps in front of Capitol Hill, forget about borrowing the cash America needs to keep fighting these wars AND a new Cold War between Oceania and Eurasia plus all the domestic bailouts/Hope and Changey stuff. The money just doesn’t exist to do it.
And Lefroy, I’ll specifically say the claim about the Nordstream being an evil Molotov-Ribbentropp 2 scheme to enslave Eastern Europe while keeping Germany warm is a joke. Ukraine can’t pay its gas bills because it’s a failing state with perpetually squabbling politicians that depended on cheap gas to subsidize its steel exports, with worse demographics than Russia. Belarus cannot convert itself overnight from alleged Kremlin puppet to victim of evil Russian energy imperialism simply because it can’t pay its oil and gas bills either.
The Jamestown Foundation which pays Zigfeld to spout this Cold War drivel is going to run out of money any day now when their senile donors pass away or find out the year is no longer 1984, or their buddies at Foggy Bottom and elsewhere get tired of the amateur hour antics of pseudo NGOs.
Mr X…..
Holy Handgrenades!
What a freaking spot on artical.
Excellent job.
May the Schwartz be with you.
dh
I don’t agree with Spengler’s thesis that the Russian people were the problem. But clearly there had to be a shift in mentality to long-term as opposed to steal and grab all you can and get out among the nation’s entrepreneurs. And that has happened. Whether we are seeing the U.S. go through it’s own ‘Time of Troubles’ like Russia in the Nineties is an interesting question.
At least chineses papers are realist
Prediction: Neither Vladimir Putin nor Dmitri Medvedev will set foot in the U.S. That’s how much respect they have for Obama. And yes, Putin at no point had any love for the United States. Old dogs don’t suddenly learn new tricks.
#22.
B.S. Putin and just about every other Soviet era leader had a lot of admiration for the US. They have all wanted our stuff. And yes, the system that allowed it to happen.
Read your history
dh
Almost every article writer at PJM, when analyzing the actions of President Obama, seems to proceed from the same basic
assumption.
The belief that Obama governs in good faith; actually believes when he’s doing is of benefit to the United States
of American. Truth be known, I believe that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.
President Barack Obama does what President Obama intends to do. No question about it. The mega load of negative results for America caused
by the Obama administration, both foreign and domestic, are not the result of inexperience, or naivete, or inept advisors, or incompetence or errors in judgment.
I believe what Obama and his minions do is done on purpose with full appreciation of the results. For instance, Obama knows full well what increasing the debt by 2 trillion in eleven months is doing to this nation. Obama just might have the scienter of a bank robber.
Three more years of this and we’ll be not on the brink of bankruptcy, but rather in its death grip.
Have you any idea what the interest payments on 17 trillion dollars is? I figure that Obama and his accountants has it figured out to the penny.
In her article, Kim Zegfeld quoted The Heritage Foundation which said that when Obama decided to throw Poland and the Czech Republic under the missile defense takeaway bus“ “Obama is playing right into Putin’s hands.”
Unfortunately, it was probably on purpose. When Obama waved the white flag regarding the missile defense of Eastern Europe, Obama likely knew exactly what was coming.
Putin declared Russia would have to build a new generation of ICBM’s. Where’s the logic there? Absent.
But there was apparently no lack of knowledge and intent on Obama’s part.
Was Obama surprised at Putin’s reaction to Obama’s decision to halt the promised missile defense of Eastern Europe? Commentator Mark Whittington writes: Putin’s reaction may have come as a surprise to the Obama administration.
Wrong.
I believe that Obama knew exactly when he was doing, and got the exact result form Putin, a KGB’er first last and always, that Obama expected. In my humble opinion, Barack Obama’s playbook has Saul Alinsky written all over it. Weaken America. Spread the wealth. Build up expectations with lies and then fib about the results.
What is Obama if not a genuine leader?
I believe he’s a fraud.
On Jan. 20th, when he fumbled the words, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic”, he’s lucky he wasn’t hooked up to a lie detector. Truth be known, I think that the needle would have wiggled back and forth like a man on a fuzzy tree (tip of the hat to Elvis).
No earmarks Obama, in my view, makes fibber Mcgee look like an honest man. I believe that Obama doesn’t believe what he says. To Obama, there’s no longer anything such as terrorism, foreign or domestic. Just man made disasters. And, don’t forget, Fox isn’t even a news station. The BS alarm should be making your ears ring.
President Obama not only has sent the country into a financial tail spin of biblical proportions in my opinion, but has so compromised this nation’s security that we are virtually defenseless.
Those whose job it is to keep up safe, like the CIA, I believe know if they do their job with enthusiasm, courage and honor, that Obama is as likely to have them investigated as he is liable to pin a medal on their chest.
People, I believe you’re witnessing a leaderless country, the United States, trying to survive in the most dangerous world we’ve ever known. Letting this go on for another 36 months is, to me, like playing Russian Roulette with your children’s lives. Heavens to Betsey, if a dirty bomb or nuke ICBM hit New York City, I believe that I know precisely how Obama would retaliate.
He’d give a speech.
Probably make it clear that we weren’t sure who attacked us; that he wasn’t about to start an all out nuclear war.
I believe we’re sitting ducks. And with Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed being brought to New York City to face charges in a civilian federal court, I believe every New Yorker now has a target on their back. And who has Obama designated to protect us? Janet Napolitano. Is she the poster child for incompetence or what? Remember? Said Janet on December 26, a day after the panties bomber bumbled his attempt to kill 129 airline passengers, “Our system worked like a charm.” Charming, Janet.
Hiring dear ineffectual, incompetent Janet I believe may be the only time Pee Wee Obama doesn’t go to the well and blamed her hiring on George Bush.
Is Pee Wee Obama’s main objective to put this country’s ideals, traditions and constitution on life support by the time he leaves office? It certainly does look that way. While making millionaires of roughly ten thousand of his supporters?
Honestly, I’d feel more secure if Pee Wee Herman were in charge. A whole lot more secure.