OBAMA DIPLOMACY IN CRIMEA

Charles Krauthammer, in a Mar. 6 opinion article entitled The Wages of Weakness published in Washington Post Opinions where he made a statement that clearly shows he does not understand the 21st century; therefore is clueless when it comes to understanding Obama. Krauthammer is convinced that Putin has every right to invade the Crimea, which makes Obama wrong in opposing his bellicose move. He cynically wrote, “This must mean that seeking national power, territory, dominion—the driving impulse of nations since Thucydides — is obsolete.” Yes, Dr. Krauthammer, it does mean that under Obama and most of the developed world realpolitik is “obsolete”. Take you head out of the sand; Secretary Kissinger diplomacy is no longer in vogue; he was the last advocate of that kind of policy. That is what the Arab spring is all about: Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, etc. When is the last time that you heard about one nation, other than Russia, militarily invading another; Putin invading Georgia and Ukraine and Russian shenanigans in Eastern Europe and that’s it.

He is a conservative, which means he does not want to give up the “bad old days”. I cannot imagine Obama not responding the way he is responding; it would violating everything he stand for in terms of international relations. He believes nations should respect one another and not fear one another. The Reagan era of economic hegemony died along with realpolitik; countries should do business with other nations because they have the resources and be willing to pay a fair price. Oil companies, under Obama, are not be in a position to negotiate at a diplomatic level and have the U.S. army at their disposal as they have for years and the right wings hates that. People like Krauthammer, John McCain, and other big stick diplomats cannot understand that.  Sure, there will be problems as some of these countries find their own way but they and the world will be better off for it.  

Against, that background, can you imagine what the right wing reaction would be if President Obama were pay attention to Krauthammer and do nothing about Putin’s invasion of Crimea? In case you haven’t noticed, what he is threatening to do is to use economic means and not tactical nuclear weapons; I wonder if in the end they will appreciated the difference. I hope so!

URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated