BO is perceived as being weak, so.....

In place of Kerry, I suppose America could have sent Rush Limbaugh complete with suitcase full of viagra, or Irving Kristol, or Dick Cheney or any other hawkish, draft dodging Republican man's man and to what effect? There is not much America can do about this no matter who we send over there. Nor does it particularly matter.

Of what strategic importance is Crimea to us? It's minor at best. There is no threat to us or to NATO-secured Europe in any of this. What we should do is publicly deplore it because it is deplorable, and keep our options open with the Europeans. And keep tabs on the situation as we watch Putin try to figure out how to get himself out of this one.

Russia's goal is a friendly or at least neutral Ukraine, and the security of Russian navel installations on the Black Sea. The invasion of Crimea has resulted in just the opposite. What do they do now? As long as they occupy Crimea they will have a hostile Ukraine to deal with and even if they pulled out tomorrow it will be years before there is any trust between the two countries. Brilliant move, Vlad.

Putin has also once again reminded the rest of the world what his Russia is really like. The whole point of Sochi was to remake their image. Russia desperately wants to be seen as one of us. It's vital for business and investment, i.e. making money, as well as plain old national pride. Putin's great adventure in Crimea has made it pretty evident that with the possible exception of the restroom facilities, Sochi was not representative of Russia. That's billions of dollars worth of hard won PR down the drain in the space of a couple of days. Good going, Virile Shirtless One.

As for the Europeans, this is a useful reminder that there might be safer and more secure sources of energy than Russian oil and gas. The Russians don't really produce anything that anyone wants except oil, gas (and arms, of course) and a European shift toward other sources of energy is the last thing they need.

Putin presides over a backward, economically weak and chaotic, bribery-ridden kleptocracy and everyone knows it including Putin. His recent occupation of Crimea will do nothing to help Russia advance. Indeed it makes their situation worse. And the longer it continues the weaker Russia's and Putin's position becomes.

 

The republican strategy at work...blame Obama for not doing what they themselves can't fathom not doing.

Holy @#$%.

 

Bush and Cheney didn't have ODS ...until 2008.

 

I'll reiterate: "Putin @#$%ed-up."

It's probably not really his fault though. He had likely been watching too much Faux Noose and listening to too much Rush Limp-burger, and came to the conclusion that, whatever he himself did, idiots in America would say it was all Obama's fault.

...and he was right.

 

In your estimation. Well that explains a lot.

So Putin saw President Obama as weak because...what?

We didn't get involved in yet another war on a foreign front thousands of miles away?

Then add in if he DID you would most likely be crying about the costs.

If it was a fist fight between Putin and Obama I figure Obama could take him.

However, that is not the case. It could be World War III.

 

This Right-winger meme that Obama is some type weak leader on the international stage because he doesn't get us involved in trumped up wars and come off like a cowboy is about the most self-serving idiocy they have spewed yet. Obama has yet to be challenged by anybody. This Russian invasion is completely analogous to their invasion of Georgia during the Bush/Cheney fiasco and they stomped around like morons. The Right-wing nuts want continual war and conflict and anything that interrupts that scenario is considered by them to be weakness. If you have a thoughtful, measured response to a crisis, like 99% of the western leaders, you must be weak in their eyes. Let me ask them. How did Bush/Cheney and their NeoCons getting us involved in two of the longest wars in our history solve even one problem? Right-wingers on this forum are just parroting Limbaugh, FOX, Beck, Hannity, and the rest of the coo-coos while expressing the most ignorant, foolish, naive opinions possible. They can't name one thing our president should do differently in this situation and yet they criticize him for not doing it anyway. How F'ing stupid is that? Morons, miscreants, misogynists one and all.

 

I like how they have linked Benghazi to Ukraine. You have to give them chits for creativity.

Lindsey Graham ✔ @GrahamBlog Follow
It started with Benghazi. When you kill Americans and nobody pays a price, you invite this type of aggression. #Ukraine
12:42 PM - 4 Mar 2014

 

It's not really a "connect the dots" thing in as much as the two incidents being connected, it's more a case of it being yet another example of BO's failings.

 

Then I guess the 13 embassy attacks during Bush/Cheney were 12 more than Obama. Of course the Left didn't attack our own president for all those the way the Right is attacking our president these days. How convenient your criticisms sounds to the rest of us.

 

Still nobody can tell me what our president should do differently in this situation but they continue to criticize. Typical.

 

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I guess it is not convenient for you to count Peshawar, Cairo, Sana'a, Tunis, Ankara, and Herat. And it is even more inconvenient for you to count ambassadors killed or eve\nts covered up.

 

He needs to get all of those people in Russia, Philippines, and Ghana who hold positives views of USA to tell Putin that he has been a bad boy and ought to be a good boy and pull out of Crimea.

 

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I turned on Faux for a minute and they were talking about how Benghazi is where Hillary is most vulnerable.

LOL...idiots say the funniest things.

 

The debate is lost when they have to bring up comparisons to the former President!

 

Because Putin was the same guy during Bush, because Georgia was also invaded by Russia, because Bush shot our international credibility all to hell, or because you simply can't acknowledge how pathetic Bush was?

 

Ahh! The cartoons. Lost another debate I see.

 

I'll bet Bush never whispered in a Russian leader's ear, asking Putin to have a little patience with him!

How about your idol (and resident wife beater) Grayson? Some guy, huh?

 

No he just looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul. In fact, his exact quote was:

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. ​

"I was able to get a sense of his soul."​

​

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And then Putin invaded Georgia. Boy! Did you step in that one. ​