Back to the USSR: Putin schools Obama in geopolitics

“Russia as I indicated is a geopolitical foe... time and time again I have clear eyes on this. I’m not going to wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Russia or Mr. Putin...” —Mitt Romney, 2012

Remember that presidential debate when Mitt Romney was (snicker) ridiculed for his position on Russia? Obama quickly dismissed Romney’s remark regarding Russia, saying, “The cold war has been over for 20 years.”

Really? Who decided that? Certainly not Mr. Putin.

When the mediocre media has zero objectivity regarding the facts of history and gives a Monopoly “pass go” propaganda card to the demagogue in the White House, you end up with the kind of crisis we are witnessing today in Ukraine.

C’mon, Mitt... really? Russia?

Just because democracy picks a winner, it doesn’t mean they actually are. History picks winners and losers, not political pundits. Its now more likely than not that history will look back on this president as having lost both America and the free world. The world has always been a dangerous place and it’s becoming more dangerous by the day. Having already taken the Crimean peninsula, Russian forces may be storming across eastern Ukraine heading for Kiev as I write.

And if that happens, is America ready for war? If our forces need to be quickly deployed to the Polish border as a deterrent, will there be enough American firepower left to confront an emboldened Iran? Would remaining U.S. forces in the Pacific be enough to deter North Korea or, God forbid, China? Chuck, do you still want to slash American troop strength down to pre-World War II levels?

Welcome back to the future, America, back to the new warmer “cold war.” Back to the USSR.

America and Europe now face the biggest crisis of the NATO alliance since “the cold war was won.” But sadly, there is now little if anything that can be done militarily to stop Russia’s advance short of nuclear saber rattling. But then again, Obama is no JFK.

Remember Hilary’s little war to oust Gaddafi using NATO firepower? Does anyone even remember how NATO troops ended up fighting “the war on terror” in Afghanistan?

No… But what difference does that make?

It makes all the difference in the world if you are Vladimir Putin resurrecting the Soviet Union from the ash heap of history. The rise of Hitler after World War I had everything to do with European weakness and what Hitler perceived as unfinished business after German humiliation and forced austerity. Russia has had the same ax to grind with the West for some time now after the fall of the Soviet Union. That ax is now sharp.

The NATO alliance was formed as a counter balance against the threat of Warsaw Pact expansion and puppet regime installation in Eastern Europe. NATO was supposed to be a deterrent to the kind of textbook KGB power grab which Mr. Putin is now pulling off with impunity in Ukraine.

So how did it become the mission of NATO to drop bombs in Libya in support of Islamic jihadists? Who called for that? And how did the purpose of NATO ever become fighting against the same jihadists in Afghanistan; a war which NATO has absolutely no jurisdiction prosecuting and no imminent reason to be fighting?

Presently, NATO has substantial resources bogged down in Afghanistan. But pulling NATO forces out of Afghanistan through Pakistan is virtually impossible. Flying the equipment out would take way too long to deter any Russian designs on Ukraine. You begin to realize “what difference it all makes” when you understand that the only possible extradition route of NATO troops and equipment out of Afghanistan is... through Russia.

Oops.

Maybe Mr. Kerry can call the Kremlin on the bat phone and arrange for the safe passage of NATO troops through Russia.

Ironically, Afghanistan is what brought the USSR to its knees. The only thing dumber than stupidity is the repetition of history. Why didn’t anyone see this coming? Why was America so blind-sided? Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago John Kerry was speaking in Indonesia about climate change being “the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction?”

Mr. Kerry makes Neville Chamberlain look like a foreign policy genius. When Mr. Putin pulled the trigger on Ukraine, he understood that NATO is bogged down in Afghanistan, and now painfully... so does NATO. Even if NATO wanted to act to defend Europe, its actually quite hamstrung to do anything. Can anyone in the White House say, “checkmate”?

Who is responsible for placing NATO troops in Afghanistan? Who disarmed Europe and left the front door wide open? Does anyone really believe that more huffing and puffing from Johnny B. Good in Kiev will scare Mr. Putin into submission? Does any sane person really believe that “tough talk” about excommunicating Russia from the G8 will dissuade Russia from what its sees as neutralizing a “fascist threat” in its own backyard? Russia has its own version of the Monroe Doctrine, even if low-info America is clueless about what the Monroe Doctrine even means.

Sanctions worked really well to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Just ask Israel. So, no doubt economic sanctions will work like a charm to stop Russian aggression against its neighbors. But there’s only one problem. Western Europe is dependent on Russian energy... and the natural gas pipeline from Russia goes through... Ukraine.

Oops, yet again.

It’s pretty clear now who has been wearing rose-colored glasses.

Seymour is a resident of Kalispell.