Why are Improved Relations With Russia a Bad Thing?

There will be many discussions about the 2016 presidential election when time passes and we look at it less emotionally. Among them will be the horrible campaign run by Hillary, the cheating on the part of the DNC and the complete upheaval of the electorate and pre-conceived notions of how they would vote.

But the biggest discussion has got to be about Russia. The very same Russia that the Obama administration attempted to "reset" relations with and then botched it big time.




Or this memorable moment when Obama sounded like a lapdog to Medvedev:

Obama wanted nothing in the world more than to have good relations with Putin and Russia. He pulled missile defense out from Poland--a NATO ally--simply to placate the Russians and essentially turned a blind eye when Russia invaded the Crimea.

His own lack of negotiating skills and his chief foreign policy advisor, Hillary, made a mess of the situation.

And then things went south when Putin realized that Obama was a feckless leader who believed his very presence was enough to make the world bend to his ideas. The final straw was his inaction in Syria after drawing a red line (and then blamed our top ally for it). When Putin saw that he saw an advantage to go into assist Bashar Assad and also, and more importantly, give his military real-life experiences.

He also said the infamous words to Mitt Romney who saw exactly what Putin was doing. Oh how the media laughed over that pithy comment:



So here we are. The Democrats got smoked in the last election, they now have the least amount of power in decades nationally and they need to blame someone because liberals can never blame themselves or their ideology. So they blamed Russia and the media made them the new bad guy. They alleged that Trump colluded with the Russians and the highly politicized intelligence apparatus assisted as well.

Trump said he wants to work with Russia for the greater good and if the roles were reversed we'd see endless front page stories about what a good thing this is. But since it's Trump, they are using it to delegitimize him and his yet-to-begin presidency.

We need to work with Russia and we need to check their intentions, trump knows this since he's a deal maker. The U.S. having Russia as an enemy is a bad idea since they will be needed to maintain peace in the western Pacific and Asia. China is the real threat and the last thing we want is the outgoing president driving Russia to become friendlier toward their southern neighbor.

I don't trust Putin at all and never have but we need to work with him to solve the problems that exist between two super powers.

The actions of Obama recently with regard to Russia are as damaging as any lame duck president has ever left for his successor. By muddying the waters he has hurt our chances of finding a diplomatic settlement to the problems we face with Putin. These are real-world problems and the simple fact that Russia did not effect a single vote does not change anything. The problems exist and will continue to if we treat the as an adversary.

If Obama wants to hand Trump an impending NATO war in Europe, he's doing exactly that. It's important to note that Putin was actually the adult the last few weeks when he opted to not expel diplomats like Obama did. Putin is a businessman as well and he knows that Trump will do what he has to to protect his nation but also do what he needs to make the world (and Europe) safer. We have a common enemy in global jihadism and I for one would rather have the Russians fighting it with us versus against us.

This Is What a Lack of American Leadership Looks Like

There's been a few times over the last half century that America has failed in her role of leadership. Every time it happened it was with a Democrat. Think of the leadership they once believed in; FDR defeating Naziism and imperial Japan, Truman dropping the bomb to save the lives of a million and JFK going eyeball to eyeball with Kruschev over Cuba. but then we were, unfortunately stuck with Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Carter meant well but was way out of his league. He was an old school Democrat but lacked the steely spine of Truman or FDR. He wasn't the liberals we see today but a paleo-liberal who fully believed in the cause. He was the first American president to not believe America was a force for good in the world and believed we should make amends for all the perceived wrongs we had perpetrated. The Russians sensed weakness and they made huge gains during his (thankfully) only term. The Mideast also sensed his weakness as was made extremely evident when they took Americans hostage in Tehran. His response was feckless in a part of the world where the only thing understood was power. We paid for it in his ineffective and damaging leadership of the military that resulted in death, destruction and embarrassment in the Iranian desert. then we got Reagan and the end of the Soviet Union...

Along came Bill Clinton who faced a different enemy but one in which Carter would understand; militant Islam. They attacked the USS Cole and the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and we did nothing. Osama bin-Laden said he was at war with America and we sent a couple missiles into an empty tent. We had him dead to rights and he and Sandy Burger wavered. They got bolder with every single attack and it resulted in 9-11.

And now we have Obama. He's a liberal of a completely different ilk. His upbringing was anti-American, anti-war propaganda and he wants nothing less than a complete obliteration of America as it was. He pulled the troops from Iraq without even a thought of the consequences--no soldiers remained to train, execute missions in the best interest of the fledgling democracy and more importantly no deterrent to what group rose out of the ashes. Worse than that, he became completely disinterested in what his actions led to. He ran around touting the fact that bin-Laden was dead and al-Qaeda was on the run. But he didn't listen when his intel folks said that something even worse than al-Qaeda split off from the mother organization. What he labeled the JV team was actually growing into the worst terror organization in the world in the void he left. He threatened Assad but had zero plans on acting if the lines were crossed and emboldened ISIS to not only move into Iraq but take territory numerous Americans died to win.

Obama tried to act tough by ordering an air war that took no risks. He used drones to take out leadership that were quickly replaced but allowed him to say he was "doing something". He left a leadership opening that was essentially an invitation to Russia to join the fight and prop up the guy we pledged to take out. Amazingly, while ISIS was beheading journalists, selling children into sexual slavery and murdering homosexuals and Christians Obama opted to sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Putin knew as soon as Obama didn't act against Assad the first, second and eighth time he crossed the red line, he didn't have the heart to act at all. So he moved in and now is not only protecting the man we threatened but taking out his opposition.

Which leads us to today. Putin has been entering sovereign airspace throughout the world and testing our resolve. From Sweden and Norway to England and the US, he's probed and pricked at us and we did nothing. He started doing it into Turkey and was warned by the Turks but not by us. And now, we have a Russian jet shot down and the pilots shot while parachuting to land. The helo sent to rescue them was then shot down by insurgent groups. Putting myself in Mad Vlad's shoes, I'd be pissed. Not only would I be pissed but I'd be pissed at Turkey--a NATO ally of the US and one we are required by treaty to defend. And as an American, an ally who has been anything but. They would not allow us to attack Iraq from the north during the invasion of Iraq in 1993 and have been flying sorties that are aimed at their enemies not NATO's enemies. Their endgame is to take out the Kurds who are their enemy eternal and our ally.

So now they've attacked Russia in what may or not be a Russian provocation. The Russians can't not respond and we are in the middle. So now we have the Russians fighting the Free Syrian Army, al-Qaeda (Nusra), ISIS, the Chechens, and the myriad other enemies of Assad, whom they are protecting. We have the US fighting ISIS and the Syrian Army whom are loyal to Assad. The Turks are fighting the Russians and the Kurds while pledging they are helping against ISIS and finally we have ISIS fighting the US, Russia, Turks, Iraqi's, Assad and now al-Qaeda while establishing an enormous base of operations.

And all of this is because the US ceded our role as leaders. Did we have to continue fighting in Iraq? No, but we did have to continue to make those in Iraq believe that we would. When we allowed Assad to use chemical weapons and give us the finger while not responding, we opened up the door to what we have today.

The damage done by Obama will take decades to fix.

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.

New Term, Same Old Putin

Mad Vlad Putin stole another election and he's paying those who went against him back in that old KGB way:

Russian riot police beat protesters with batons and hauled away dozens on Sunday after skirmishes broke out at a demonstration in Moscow against Vladimir Putin on the eve of his return to the presidency.

Vlad couldn't even wait until he got back into office, he sent his goons out to settle old scores as soon as he could:

 Opposition leaders Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov were among those detained at the rally, at which police tried to push back protesters who advanced towards them holding metal crowd barriers.

Putin still is an avid believer in Soviet-style government and, as the former head of KGB, knows how to deal with internal threats. Medvedev was a Putin puppet but now the chief thug is back and he's establishing his power base right off the bat.

But he's not only returning to the glory days of the USSR internally, he's steering foreign policy back to the bad old days. Putin gave The One the finger and said he's just too damn busy to attend the G-8 summit that Obama moved from Chicago to Camp David to suit Vlad.

Even more importantly, Putin threw down the gauntlet on our missile defense plans:

Whether or not the schedule change marked an intentional snub, the let-down comes less than a week after the nation's military chief of staff warned that Russia would consider preemptive strikes, if a dispute with the United States over a Europe-based missile defense system worsens.

Drew at AoSHQ has more on Obama's ideas of missile defense and here's a piece I wrote awhile back.

Mad Vlad Bringing Back Cold War Strategy

There were many features built into the Soviet style of government. Collective farming, purges, famines and anemic productivity to name just a few. But the key to keeping the populace in check was anti-Americanism and the conduit for distributing it was the TASS news agency. The KGB or other agencies would send a report to TASS that would paint the Soviet leadership in a good light and Americans in a bad one.

Unfortunately, many western papers were littered with communist sympathizers and would play the game exactly as the Soviets wanted. Hell, just read what was written by useful idiot Walter Duranty of the NY Times to get an idea how it worked in American papers (and still does in many respects).

It was Soviet policy to blame America for every bad thing in the USSR and it was a winning strategy because the totalitarian regimes could limit information seeping into the republics. A melt-down at Chernobyl could easily have been reported as an American act of sabotage. It was easy to do and they did it with relish.

Unfortunately for the ruling communists, the system that so many sympathizers said would last longer than the American system, it was unsustainable and a coalition of Reagan, Thatcher and to a point Pope John Paul II weakened it to the point of collapse.

So now we pass into the third decade since the Soviet Union imploded and we see not a country led by communism but one led by a hybrid thugocracy made up of former commies and gangsters. The promise of capitalism was never realized due to the inherent paranoid nature of the Russian psyche.

Vladimir Putin had his time in charge of Russia and made things demonstrably worse. He anointed his successor Medvedev while still holding the reins and now wants to make his comeback. So what's his strategy? The same as it was when he was at KGB:

MOSCOW — A nasty spate of anti-Americanism set off by Vladimir V. Putin has grown into waves of attacks aimed at the new American ambassador and Russian opposition leaders, raising questions about the future of U.S.-Russian relations.

The attacks started just before the December parliamentary elections and have intensified as the March 4 presidential vote approaches. Although widely viewed as aimed primarily at a domestic audience, they have grown shriller and more aggressive, provoking debate about whether Russia is deliberately giving a cold shoulder to President Obama’s effort to promote more productive relations.

A main target of the attacks is Michael McFaul, the new ambassador, a longtime democracy advocate and Russia expert who as a top aide to Obama has been an architect of what the White House calls a “reset’’ with Moscow.

The anti-American campaign bears trademark Soviet and KGB thinking, reflecting the mindset of many of the high-level officials appointed by Putin as well as their efforts to protect their power and privileges from the gathering opposition.

Hmm, how's that whole "reset" thing working for you now, Obama?

Putin knows that Russia has lost immense influence and China has made enormous gains because of it. He's knows that a Russia leading the charge against the current superpower and reclaiming the mantle as the nation blunting American imperialism could put Russia in a position it never had before, a strong central government but now one with the ability to exploit newly discovered resources.

Putin doesn't want to "reset" relations, he wants to go back to where they were. With a weakening western Europe coming apart from six-decades of socialism, Putin sees his chance to reclaim the leadership role and reestablish state control over everything. Putin sees McFaul as an enemy as he does every American (except maybe those who still prattle on about how great the Soviet system was) and wants nothing more than to have his old scapegoat back that he can blame everything on. In other wards, he wants Cold War II.

Saturday Morning News & Notes

Off to Pace, Florida for the USSSA Baseball World Series with my boy. Exciting times for a 13-year old.

Here's what's new.

-Comparing the cowboy code to the left code. I'll take the cowboy code every single time.

-The Russians aren't too happy about the South Park portrayal of Vlad Putin. Lighten up, Vladimir.

-NY Times writer David Brooks says a GOP senator had "his hand on my inner thigh" during a "whole" dinner party. Er, David, why would you let him leave it there unless of course you liked it, which would make the question moot.

-We are if desperate of another Reagan while the Brits could surely use another Thatcher. Unfortunately, on the US side of the pond we are in short supply of Conservatives save Rick Perry and Sarah Palin.

-DHS sneaking toward open borders. Amnesty and decreased regulatory authority are on the way.

-Obama set to give the "rich" a good soaking. Socialism lives in the US.

-Government Motors making life miserable for private, non-government-owned entities. The administration is seeking to destroy all industry in one way or another.

-Update: It seems as though I'm sensing more buyers remorse than previously. Kilroy seems to be experiencing it but more importantly, he joins the numerous Obama supporters who are realizing the stimulus was a bad idea the way it was constructed.

TelePrompter-less Obama Makes Bush Sound Like Tony Blair

In the latest installment of the What Would the Media Have Said Were It Bush section, we have The One stumbling and mumbling through a day in Moscow:

Mr. Obama has seemed tired here, several times fumbling the pronunciation of Mr. Medvedev’s name and Mr. Putin’s title. Beginning a speech here, he mistakenly said he first met his wife in school instead of at the law firm where they actually met. And he misstated his younger daughter’s age.

He was quick on his feet, however, while addressing graduates of the New Economic School. In praising Russian culture, Mr. Obama cited painters, composers, dancers — and a hockey player, The Associated Press reported.

Got that? He screwed up the name of the Russian leader, obliterated the title of the new-age czar, forgot where he met his wife and got the age of his own daughter wrong. Taken alone each would be a case of misspeaking oneself but put together and we have the continuation of a trend. You take the Most Eloquent President Ever away from prepared text and he's almost as prone to verbal gaffes as his Vice President.

If this were Bush, we'd be subjected to an endless loop of the errors on MSNBC and it would be front-page news in the Washington Post and NY Times instead of a blurb in the middle of a story, which tells us it was because he was tired. I guess Bush wasn't allowed to get tired. Besides, citing painters, composers and dancers is something that Bush never would have done because he was an uncultured redneck from Texas so there.

Not to mention the fact that he's now dissed two leaders of major European nations.

He's now off to Rome where he will get the names of the Japanese and Chinese leaders wrong while the media chalks it up to jetlag. He may want to spell Berlusconi's name out phonetically on the inside of his hand since the electrical outlets in Rome are different and the teleprompter may not work there either.

You Can Take the Commie Out of the KGB...

Our old buddy Vlad Putin is still the same old Vlad he was when he was a KGB man back when the Russians were still Soviets:

Nicolas Sarkozy saved the President of Georgia from a threat by Vladimir Putin to depose him from power and "hang him by the balls," according to an account that emerged today from the Elysée Palace.

The Russian Prime Minister told Mr Sarkozy of his plans for deposing the Tbilisi government and disposing of President Saakashvili when the French leader was in Moscow last August to broker a cease-fire in Georgia.

Nice. I imagine old Vlad will not be too happy about the wimpy French (but I'm redundant) President revealing the details of a meeting he had with him. Saakashvili grew up under Soviet oppression so he has to have some intestinal fortitude. It makes one wonder what Mr. Putin will propose to do to the future President Obama?

I foresee Russia trying to supplant al-Qaeda as being the biggest thorn in the side of the US over the next five years. Welcome to the big time, President-elect O. Note that Putin has not started to assert himself again until the end of the Bush years.

Obama Makes First Foreign Policy Error

President-elect Obama is getting a rude welcome to the world of international diplomacy and the wide-reaching effect his decisions will have:

President-elect Obama has spoken to the president of Poland about relations between the two countries but didn't make a commitment on the multibillion-dollar missile defense program undertaken by the Bush administration, an Obama aide said Saturday.

That contrasts with a statement by Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who said Obama told him the missile defense project would continue.

The U.S. and Poland signed an agreement in August for basing American missiles in Poland as part of a shield against possible missile attacks from Iran.

A missile shield set up so close to its borders has been a sore point with Russia and has served as another dent in its battered relationship with the U.S.

So here we are with Obama telling a world leader one thing and the public another, very much like his statements on NAFTA during the election where he slammed the treaty on the campaign trail while simultaneously winking at the Canucks and saying it was just for the consumption of the gullible American electorate.

But this is not Canada, this is Russia, the former Soviet Union, the Bear who was our enemy for decades and who will be again soon. Medvedev is the puppet while Putin pulls the strings and Putin is getting a measure of just who Obama is. Russia wants to regain its influence in the region and it starts with Poland, a fierce ally and a nation that dearly needs us to be very clear about our intentions. Instead we get mealy-mouthed rhetoric from Obama.

Putin is paying attention and he's gauging the make up of the man who will replace Bush. I'm sure he's smiling with Obama's response to this issue. He's rebuilding his military (a sorry military at present) in hopes of becoming the power broker in Eastern Europe, Southwestern Asia, the Northern Pacific and the Arctic. The Bush administrations aim with placing the missile shield in Poland was to assure our ally that we are paying attention plus to force Russia's hand. Obama has essentially laid all that work to waste by his dithering.

This was not an easy plan for Lech Kaczynski to get his country to accept and he probably spent massive political capital to do so and Obama leaves the man hanging on an issue of great import.

This is no longer a campaign, that's already been won. This is not speaking in front of adoring fans who mindlessly scream "Yes we can" after every sentence. No, this is the real deal where decisions (or none decisions as the case may be) have immediate and far-reaching effect. If Europe finally likes us again as liberals are so happy to point out, it sure seems strange to leave a major European country (and one that suffered first under the Nazi's then under the Soviets in recent history) twisting in the wind.

A troubling start to say the least.

US Navy Headed Toward Black Sea

The US Navy is headed toward Georgia to offer aid to the Georgian people. It's dubbed a "humanitarian effort" but make no mistake about this, this is surely a show of strength that Moscow must take note of:

As we speak, the USS Kearsarge assault ship is sailing alone in Latin America, totally unescorted, on its own humanitarian mission. Captain Walter Towns said he feels "pretty secure." The Georgia flotilla, by contrast, is stacked with heavily-armed warships. The vanguard includes the Burke-class destroyer McFaul (pictured)and the armed Coast Guard cutter Dallas. (Another Dallas, a nuclear submarine, is also in the area.) Trailing behind is the command ship Mount Whitney with, reportedly, Polish and Canadian frigates as escorts. The naval aid effort isn't taking any chances.

And for good reason. Russia's Black Sea fleet dominated the waters off Georgia from the early days of the fighting, and now it's been announced that the sole Russian aircraft carrier, Kuznetsov, is headed to the eastern Mediterranean. In 1991 Kuznetsov illegally sneaked through Turkey's Bosporus Strait (see map here--ed.) that connects the Med to the Black Sea. "It will be interesting to see if Russia does it again," Galrahn writes over at Information Dissemination.

Ironically, the Kuznetsov was once named the Tblisi. Video here of the carrier.

It's a dangerous game to have warships in close proximity to one another as accidents can happen and tensions can be exacerbated. Here's a map of the Black Sea:



Note the only entrance is through the Sea of Marmara and past Istanbul. Tight quarters to be sure. US Navy and Coast Guard ships in a smallish sea with the Russians only carrier keeping station along the Georgian coast is a recipe for disaster. The Russians are also digging in along the Black Sea coast.

These are real issues that will have far-reaching consequences with regard to Russia's growing influence in the region. Putin has to be met with stiff American and international resistance to make him think twice the next time he makes a move. One must wonder how a President Obama (shudder) would handle a growing crisis like this and would he have the balls to send US warships to a hot area in defense of allies or would he instead meet with Putin or Medvedev with no pre-conditions?

Some good will come from this; US allies will see that we keep our word, plus we'll get to eyeball the Russian carrier and see exactly what technical abilities the rusting Russian navy still possesses.

News & Notes--8/8/8 Edition

The Olympics start today and China gets her time on the world stage. Here's to hoping it has the same effect as the Seoul Olympics did.

Anyway, here's the latest happenings throughout the Internets:

The Russian bear is getting froggy in South Ossetia. Putin (and don't kid yourself, he's still calling the shots through his proxy) is still a Soviet to the bone and will always be. Could Cold War II be on the horizon?

The new Obama salute:













As soon as I saw it it brought to mind this image from Pink Floyd's epic The Wall:









I was beaten to the punch, however. Via Glenn who notes a Star Trek angle. Update: Too damn funny!

The Edwards/Rielle Hunter story is still in first gear but the clutch is being depressed.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Vs. the ACLU. I take Arpaio in that one.

Blogging will be light as I'm taking a few well-deserved days off.

Another Problem With Chinese Products

It's getting to the point that the public at large is starting to notice that there are quite a few Chinese products containing unhealthy amounts of chemicals or metals.

First it was the dog food, then toys, now blankets:

Wellington - Chinese-made blankets found to contain high levels of formaldehyde have been recalled across Australia and New Zealand, the distributor said on Wednesday, amid rising global concerns about the safety of Chinese products.

The voluntary recall by Australian-based Charles Parsons came two days after the New Zealand government launched an urgent investigation after scientists found dangerous levels of formaldehyde in woollen and cotton clothes made in China.

Plus they've raided a plant that was recycling chopsticks. Now that's just nasty.

We've got major issues with the Chinese; they are attempting to surpass Japan as the regional power, they hold major sway by holding major amounts of US dollars and if we cut back on products being bought, the damage to our economy could be significant.

China is our next enemy and they've been getting cozy with Putin and his steadily re-reddening Russia to the point they held military training together. The Chinese bear serious watching.