Obama, Putin, Strength, Weakness

"Socialism at home" wrong.

Obama is a Rockefeller Republican.

And what is the alternative to supposed "appeasement?"

If "perpetual warfare people" want military intervention, say so.

If not, please explain yourselves.

Here's George Carlin's explanation:
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/george-carlin-we-like-war-because-were.html
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/10/george-carlin-on-american-dream-video.html

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McFAUL: Debating Obama's weakness only makes our entire country weak. "The record is clear and consistent. Whether Democrat or Republican, no U.S. president has ever succeeded in deterring Soviet military intervention in Eastern Europe over the last 70 years. American responses to intervention, however, did vary radically....It is on this debate -- how to make Putin pay for his actions -- that our national leaders should focus. Debating the extent of sanctions against Russian officials, arguing over the size of the economic assistance package to the new Ukrainian government, debating greater military assistance to the Ukrainian army, considering how large the increase should be of scholarships for Ukrainians to study in the U.S. over the next decade, or jousting over how large the plus up should be for the Freedom Support Act should be in next year's budgets -- these are the important policy questions of our moment. Debating Obama's weakness only makes our entire country weak." Michael McFaul in Time Magazine.

KRAUTHAMMER: Obama's pathetic response to Putin's invasion of Crimea. "As I've argued here before, there are things we can do: Send the secretary of defense to Kiev tomorrow to negotiate military assistance. Renew the missile-defense agreement with Poland and the Czech Republic. Announce a new policy of major U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas. Lead Europe from the front -- to impose sanctions cutting off Russian enterprises from the Western banking system. As we speak, Putin is deciding whether to go beyond Crimea and take eastern Ukraine. Show him some seriousness, Mr. President." Charles Krauthammer in The Washington Post.

APPLEBAUM: Russia will never be like us. " In many European capitals, the Crimean events have been a real jolt. For the first time, many are beginning to understand that the narrative is wrong: Russia is not a flawed Western power. Russia is an anti-Western power with a different, darker vision of global politics. The sanctions lists published in Europe this week were laughably short, but the fact that they appeared at all reflects this sea change. For 20 years, nobody has thought about how to "contain" Russia. Now they will. In any case, even the new and longer U.S. sanctions list is only a signal. Far more important now are the deeper strategic changes that should flow from our new understanding of Russia." Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post.

THE WASHINGTON POST: Obama should keep tightening the sanctions on Russia. "Mr. Obama should get credit for leading the Western response to Mr. Putin....But the U.S. sanctions still fall far short of what is needed to inflict the "massive" damage to the Russian economy threatened by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, much less force a retreat from Crimea....The administration has declined to provide military aid to the Ukrainian army, irking some critics. But even with such assistance, Ukrainian forces would be unable to stop a Russian invasion; the economic tools at the West's disposal have more potential punch. Mr. Putin and his political elite appear drunk with euphoria over their successful seizure of Crimea and skeptical about the West's will to push back. If the latest sanctions do not quickly sober them up, Mr. Obama must not hesitate to expand the range of sanctions from Mr. Putin's inner circle to the pillars of the Russian economy."Editorial Board.

HIRSH: After Ukraine, will U.S. become a energy superpower? "In truth, there is probably not much the U.S. can do in the immediate future to shift the economic dependence for Europe dramatically; the necessary plants and facilities will take years to build. The more realistic question is longer term: whether such a strategy should become a kind of energy analogue to Cold War containment policy, in part to counter what now looks like a long-term Putin strategy toward reasserting Russian influence in the former Soviet sphere. America's rise to energy independence and exporter status would achieve the multiple aims of undermining the sources of Putin's power and influence, drawing Western Europe closer, keeping China from allying its own future too closely to Moscow's (despite persistent wooing by Putin), and further freeing America of dependence on another region that has become increasingly fractious and undependable: the Arab world." Michael Hirsh in The Atlantic.

ASH: America's challenge in Ukraine. "Vladimir Putin knows that this crisis is about the whole of Ukraine. Ukrainians know it too. And the West must not forget it. There is nothing to be done to restore Ukrainian control over Crimea. The crucial struggle now is for eastern Ukraine. If what remains of the nation participates in a peaceful, free and fair presidential election on May 25, it can survive as one independent country (minus Crimea). It also will be back on an unambiguously democratic, constitutional path. In everything the European Union and the West do over the next two months, that should be the first priority." Timothy Garton Ash in the Los Angeles Times.