The Russians were sizing BO up from Day One!!

I was listening to an interview with Mike Rogers, on NPR, this morning.
In 2009, shortly after BO took office, Rogers was in Russia and was warned by a group of Eastern European high-ranking military leaders that Russia viewed BO as weak & they (the Russians) were thrilled BO had won the election, opening the door to Russian aggression. He even had a Russian general gloat that the US now a "nation in decline" after electing someone like BO.

 

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I wonder why Mike would be pro-War?

His wife, Kristi Clemens Rogers, was previously President and CEO of Aegis LLC, a contractor to the United States Department of State for intelligence-based and physical security services.

 

Oh, no! A cartoon!

 

I love the claims that Obama is weak on this and weak on that. Underestimating him is an easy mistake to make, if you lack the ability to comprehend multiple complex scenarios. He's smart enough to grasp the more complex situations, like this particular issue, unlike that old geezer McCain, or that old geezer Romney, or that old geezer Bachmann, or that old geezer Palin...none of whom would be able to grasp even the most simple concepts without someone explaining it to them ad nauseum...and even then, they still would rely on others to get it done.

Damn, I'm glad Obama is President!

We'd be @#$%ed many times over by now if he had lost either election.

 

Republicans are fond of knee-jerk reactions. If you actually think about a strategy, you are antithetical to their nature. There is certainly no need for us to react to this Russian incursion in Crimea with any sense of urgency. We are not threatened and neither are any of our allies. This silly "weakness" meme these idiots keep spewing is not only purely political, it is actually aiding Putin's resolve more than anything. They don't care. As long as they can use an international crisis for political purposes to make our president seem weaker, they are content to undermine this country. Pathetic morons.

 

Yet, where were they when Jr. brought our nation to it's knees, with Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the collapse of our economy?

Obama is getting us out of all that chit, but they say he's weak?

"Pathetic" is too kind a word. The "morons" part is dead-on, though.

 

So what would a Republican, a President Romney for example, have done that would have prevented the current Russian power play in Crimea?

 

Approve Keystone, drill in ANWR, and proceed with the Eastern Europe missile shield.

 

That would have stopped 'em huh? How? By making their oil and natural gas irrelevant? Not quite. Keystone is not going to throw that much toxic sludge, I mean oil, into the mix, and drilling ANWAR even when production came on line, which would be years from now, would not come close to driving Russia out of the market. And do you seriously think that Shell, and Exxon, and BP and the boys are not going to do with that oil whatever it takes to maintain or increase their profits? Screw foreign policy. It's not like Mittens could just grab it for use as a weapon to beat the Ruskies with.

And, yeah, I'm sure a missile defense system, even assuming that it actually worked under real life conditions, would make the Russians quake in their little boots. As they marched into Crimea we could threaten to shoot down any missiles they might decide to send toward London or Frankfurt or Warsaw. That would make them think twice, wouldn't it? I don't think so. Once they ignored all that then what, big guy?

 

You so do not understand the economics of oil I cannot even start. Just for starters, if EVERY oil company doubled their profit, they would come up to about the federal tax on Gasoline and diesel. And then the state taxes add about that much again. You might well study the fall of he Berlin wall. Do you know what was the biggest "weapon" Reagan used?

 

As long as we're not focusing on the real world and instead playing "what if", what would Harry Truman have done? How about Lyndon Johnson or Jimmy Carter? Walter Mondale? Michael Dukakis? How about that thing from Uranus, Hillary Clinton? This is fun!

 

You've probably noticed that the only repuke that has suggested what we should or should have done differently was to drill for oil. Somehow that was going to prevent Putin from invading to protect his Black Sea fleet in Crimea. Or building a missile shield in Europe would somehow dissuade Putin from invading Crimea which again is where the Russian Black Sea fleet already is.
Not one of them has come up with response that they can point to that would have made the slightest difference so they push an unprovable meme that Putin acted because he saw Obama as weak. Putin has not said this, no other country has said this, but the repukes don't stop saying it. I wonder how that emboldens Putin?

 

Well, who knows? It's possible I don't. So you explain to me how your pipeline and ANWAR, and of course the Eastern European missile shield would have prevented Russia from doing what it's doing now.

 

Don't hold your breath. I have been trying to get that answer since the first time he spewed this nonsense.
It reminds me of the Bush administration attacking Iraq because Al Qaeda in Afghanistan got 19 Saudis to fly planes into the twin towers on 9/11. They just come to the conclusion that fits their agenda and then react rather than come to the conclusion that would actually address the crisis at hand.

In another universe...a scary universe.

Presidential Aide: "President Romney wake up"
Romney: "What?"
Presidential Aide: "China just invaded Taiwan"
Romney: "Oh well, tax cuts for the rich, end all social programs, and take away women's and minorities voting rights"
Presidential Aide: "Very decisive action sir!"
Romney: "Oh yeah, attack Australia. I hear they discovered oil recently"

 

Provable or unprovable, in this case, Putin's actions speak louder than any words! Putin's a bully & bullies won't act if they believe there'll be any resistance.

 

And I repeat;
You might well study the fall of he Berlin wall. Do you know what was the biggest "weapon" Reagan used?

 

So Russia as it is today and the situation in Crimea are analogous to the Soviet Union and its behavior as it was at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I see. Thanks for explaining your reasoning here.

 

Putin is a Cold War relic...he wants to restore Russia to it's former Soviet "glory"...he waited until such time he was convinced no one would be willing to oppose his aggression.

 

Not even close to what I said. I guess you aren't going to look anything up. The prime driver of the Russian economy is now and was then oil and gas. If the price of crude drops, it hurts their economy - severely. The mere announcement that Keystone will be built will cause the price of crude to drop. Then Russia does not have the money to bribe Ukraine or at the very least bribe them nearly as much. Now why did the Ukraine not sign with the EU?