Absolutely unbelievable.
In six weeks, not only has Obama ticked off the Israelis and India, now he's added our allies in Eastern Europe to the list!
Apparently Obama wrote a confidential letter to the Kremlin, offering the Russians a deal - the US would end any plans for missile defense systems in Eastern Europe (in spite of the agreements we've already signed with Poland and the Czech Republic)in exchange for Russia's help in curtailing Iran's nukes.
The Russians said they were all for discussing the proposed US missile shield with the US...but that any attempt to haggle ( and that was the exact word President Medvedev used) by linking those talks with anything to do with Iran's nuclear weapons program was 'unproductive'.
Nyet, nichevo, dos vedanyah Gospodin Obama!
It's one thing to sell out your allies, but it's another thing to have it come out publicly and something else again when that kind of betrayal isn't even accepted by the people you're trying to dicker with.
This is the president of the United States we're talking about, trying to run out on our allies behind their backs and getting caught at it. This seems like the sort of idea that would come from a foreign policy 'expert' like Slo-Joe Biden.
This is particularly distasteful in the case of Poland, who sent troops to Iraq to fight with us. I can only imagine what they and the rest of the old Soviet empire are thinking right now.
The Russians have a huge investment in Iran, and in any case, with Bushehr completed ( plus who knows what else) and the Iranian satellite proving that they have the ballistic missile capability to hit Europe, it's doubtful that Putin could put the brakes on Iran even if he wanted to. After all, from Russia's standpoint, the best that could happen is a rise in the price of crude because of Iran blackmailing the west through the Persian Gulf oil routes.
Welcome to amateur hour at the White House. It will take a long time to undue the damage now being done.
6 comments:
it has been painfully obvious to myself that ff was more a russian expert than clueless condi was.
yes, i know we're talking current administrations here, so why is it that everyone else can understand loyalty except the who call themselves the best and brightest in the US?
how about dumb and dumber?
what are they doing, writing a book called how to throw and entire country under the bus?
by the time these dumbasses achieve their goal, and they will do it, the US will be totally isolated in the world.
what a wonderful time to turn things over to the UN to run?
This is truly disgusting behavior on the part of the Russians. Obama and his team are f'ing idiots but this still does not alter the fact that this behavior on the part of the Russians is absolutely dispicable.
The fact is the missle defense system that was being proposed was not even being designed with Russia in mind. The current system, at least as initially designed, would have been wholly inadequate to deal with Russian missles any way. This is why most Poles and Czechs are opposed to the system. They realize the system, as is, is inadequate to deal with Russia and will only serve to antagonize Russia.
Russia is fully capable of stopping Iran's nuclear program. Simply stop supplying it. Even without an Iranian nuclear weapons program, Russia with its vast oil supplies and its massive military might would still be the most powerful country on earth. In contrast, a nuclear armed Iran is an existential threat to America.
For Mr. Obama to ask the Russians for assistance here in exchange for removal of the puny missle defense system in Europe was not an unreasonable request. Where the idiot Obama and his team screwed up is in their failure to understand that the Russians are unreasonable people.
If I were advising Obama, I never would have proposed this overture to Russia. The problem with any agreement with Russia, Iran, or any other American enemy is enforcement. The media scrutiny on America is always intense. As such, the US has no choice but to comply with any agreement even if it did not really want to. In contrast, the Russians, Iranians, and others face no such scrutiny from the media. They will be able to violate any agreement they make with impunity and they are not trustworthy. As such, agreements with them are pointless.
The best choice for America, perhaps the only choice it has right now is to disengage entirely from the Middle East. America should do the following: 1.)Secure its borders, 2.)place a moratorium on immigration from Muslim lands and probably a moratorium on all immigration until it can fix its immigration system, 3.)upgrade the nuclear arsenal, 4.) build more refineries, 5.)drill for more of our own oil and gas reserves, and 6.) overhaul the intellegence services vastly improving human intellegence capabilities.
Suggestions 3 and 6 will be very costly and may not be able to be implemented right now. America is not in a financial position right now to be able to be competitive with Russia and China. As such, it would be best to avoid an unwinable war with either of them, if at all possible.
As for our Eastern European allies, they are probably relieved the missle defense system will not be built. The system would have been inadequate to defend against Russia and was only serving to antagonize Russia. As such, the system had negative utility to these people. Most of them realized this. This is why the populace in these countries was largely opposed to the system.
With that said these people may be failing to understand that the Russian leadership is completely unreasonable. Even without the missle defense system the Russians will simply find some other excuse to bully these people. They want the Soviet Union back and they are very close to establishing a de facto Soviet Union.
I would agree it will take a long time to undo the damage that Obama has done. We are coming off the worst President in American in George W. Bush. So far, Obama appears to be even worse!! America is all but finished as a major world power. Frankly I'm not sure this damage can ever be undone. After all I don't expect the Russians, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Iranians to just stand still and wait for the Aemricans to catch up.
Right now America lags behind Russia and China militarily and economically and is falling further behind by the day. The first step to recitifying this is with a frank assessment of where we are. Frankly this is missing from the Administration, Congress, and the news media.
Finally, I wish someone in the media or the Administration would point out that the missle defense system would be unneccessary if Russia would stop aiding Iran's nuclear program!!
According to the article it appears that this letter was supposed to be secret. Why is it being published? Apparently President Obama is going to have the same problems with loose lips that former President Bush had. I think any attempt at diplomacy with the Russians is probably fruitless, however, when these things get leaked to the media it makes diplomacy even harder.
If an agreement with the Americans is made in private, this at least allows the Russians to save face. The Russian leadership are a bunch of bullies. In dealing with a bully, one has to understand that they CANNOT allow themselves to be seen publically making concessions.
In any event, in any deal making with Russia there must be some mechanism for enforcement otherwise the deal is worthless. The Americans face extreme scrutiny by the media. As such, American compliance with any deal is assured. The Russians do not face this type of scrutiny from the media. As it stands now, they would be able to violate any deal with impunity. In order for a deal to have positive utility, there would need to be some mechanism to ensure Russian compliance with the agreement.
Obama and his team are f'ing idiots
b
as i sometimes used to say to ff, don't sugar coat it, tell us what you really think.
also, i believe it was the russians who published the letter.
why?
to embarass the f*king idiots that's why.
Louie,
It may well have been the Russians who went to the NY Times and others with this story. I had much the same thought.
If this is true, the Obama Administration and the US Government have an openning, IF they are smart enough to take it. As I have been pointing out for some time, the Russian arrogance is absolutley breath takingly astounding. Here we have the Obama Administration going to the Russians with a perfectly reasonable request. Please stop supporting the Iranian nuclear weapons program. In exchange for this, we won't build a missle defense system that is being designed to defend against the Iranian threat. Then the Russians go out of their way to humiliate America.
The arrogant Russians may have given the Americans the opening they need. Here is an opportunity to expose the Russians for what they really are and to get some support from the EU and others to present a unified front against Russian aggression.
This might work if the Americans are smart enough and alert enough to capitalize on this. Unfortunately it is hard to be optimistic that they are.
Honestly, every time I visit this site I am educated in some way, shape or form. Thank you FF, and thank you two, too, B. Poster and Louielouie. I am so sorely lacking in knowledge as to what is behind so much of "world" politics.
I should be on top of things in short order, though, if I just continue reading FF's daily posts!
B. Poster - you lay it all out in short, precise paragraphs. Why, if I get it, and it seems so "easy" and reasonable, can't the rest of our government administration's get it???
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