Romney Doesn't Need Medvedev to Transmit Anything to Vladimir, He'll Tell Him Himself

Awesome.

Remember when Obama was caught on an open mic telling Russian President Dimitry Medvedev that he would have more latitude to make deals with him after the election?



I think my favorite part of that was when Medvedev said "I will transmit that information to Vladimir" with an accent that sounded like Boris and Natasha.

Well, Romney decided that he wasn't going to sneak around about it and he wasn't going to pussy foot it, he put Russia on notice today:

The size of our Navy is at levels not seen since 1916. I will restore our Navy to the size needed to fulfill our missions by building 15 ships per year, including three submarines. I will implement effective missile defenses to protect against threats. And on this, there will be no flexibility with Vladimir Putin. And I will call on our NATO allies to keep the greatest military alliance in history strong by honoring their commitment to each devote 2 percent of their GDP to security spending. Today, only 3 of the 28 NATO nations meet this benchmark.

Emphasis mine.

You may recall, Obama sold out two of our strongest former SSR allies in Poland and the Czech republic by cutting off the missile defense program those great nations spent huge political capital agreeing to. That was a great insight into Obama's governing philosophy as was the above exchange with Medvedev. Obama was showed he was willing to cast aside true allies to placate fake ones and it sent a clear message to all of those who we rely on to take a second look at their relationship with us.

Four years ago, Obama was feted by the media after he gave a weak speech in Berlin. The speech was designed to show that Obama had foreign policy credibility. He's done everything in his power to squander what cred he accumulated there.

Reading the rest of that paragraph block quoted above, i like that he gets that we need to project power and the best way to do that is to have a big, strong navy. I also like that he's serious about making NATO nations honor their commitments. Britain has been strong as have others but the Bear is not happy playing second fiddle and a rejuvenated alliance is good for all concerned.