FredHayek wrote: When President Obama told Medevev that he could be more flexible after being re-elected, I don't think this is what he intended.
It didn't matter what Obama told Medevev. Medevev was a figure head, relatively powerless, Putin was Prime Minister, he was controlling all the strings. Obama and his foreign policies advisers should have been aware of that and kept their focus on Putin.
Medevev was Putin's Potemkin Puppet (tm). He kept other politicians entertained while the big boys went on planning and conniving.
There was a pretty good press conference in Kyiv just now with SOS John Kerry speaking. He relayed that the US will take most measures it has at his disposal to put pressure on Russia to remove the troops from the Ukraine. He didn't go as far as promising force if necessary (I would expect that force would be front and center if Russia started to pop people off or moved into the rest of Eastern Ukraine).
The only problem I had with the press conference is his constant insistence that countries do not act like 19th countries in a 21st century world.
That's just not true, and for a matter of fact, if we were to move troops into the Ukraine, we would be acting just like any country acts in war.
War doesn't have it's roots in just one century. It's been fought for the same reasons, fought the same way and fought with the most recent weapons for ages.
Russia is acting exactly like any country would act in any age if they want to forcefully make territorial gains.
Other than that silly platitude, Kerry looked and sounded good.
FredHayek wrote: Has mankind changed like John Kerry believes? Or are we still 19th century men only in modern clothes?
Personally I don't think mankind has changed and the current civility the developed world has right now can be easily ripped away.
Fred. When it comes to power, possessions, land and warfare we are still cavemen. We've already had one "enlightenment" and that fact didn't change, I don't understand this platitude about the 21st century.
In that, Putin is getting a good laugh on us.
But as I said, the press conference was good and Kerry made a good stand.
Reverend Revelant wrote: Blast from the past. Obama addressing Romney.
“A few months ago when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia…the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”
For those of you who watch nothing but Fox News, you might want to pull your head out of the fox hole and watch another channel for a while. Looks like it is Putin who is blinking, not Obama. It will be fun now watching all the righties try to explain away what just happened.
hillfarmer wrote: For those of you who watch nothing but Fox News, you might want to pull your head out of the fox hole and watch another channel for a while. Looks like it is Putin who is blinking, not Obama. It will be fun now watching all the righties try to explain away what just happened.
:banghead: Like the editors of the Washington Post who were condemning Obama's foreign policy. Even the liberal press has given up on Team Obama's inability to do more than talk.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
hillfarmer wrote: For those of you who watch nothing but Fox News, you might want to pull your head out of the fox hole and watch another channel for a while. Looks like it is Putin who is blinking, not Obama. It will be fun now watching all the righties try to explain away what just happened.
So why don't you go into some detail about your point and all your unbiased sources that helped you develop that point? (instead of pretending to be a mind reader)
I'm guessing you are just another coward with no debate skills.
