Another Obama Foreign Policy Blunder

This guy who occupies the White House, B. H. Obama never fails to amaze me, or I should say continues to amaze me. There is no word that can accurately describe his naivete.

Maybe it is because I so despise that boy can't help taking perverse pleasure at watching Vladimir Putin show up Obama, again. The price for my entertainment is costly though. 

Charles Krauthammer pretty much sizes up the pathetic scene of President Obama and his delusions.

The wages of weakness

 Vladimir Putin is a lucky man. And he's got three more years of luck to come.

He takes Crimea, and President Obama says it's not in Russia's interest, not even strategically clever. Indeed, it's a sign of weakness.

Really? Crimea belonged to Moscow for 200 years. Russia conquered it 20 years before the U.S. acquired Louisiana. Lost it in the humiliation of the 1990s. Putin got it back in about three days without firing a shot.

Obama says Putin is on the wrong side of history, and Secretary of State John Kerry says Putin's is "really 19th-century behavior in the 21st century."

This must mean that seeking national power, territory, dominion — the driving impulse of nations since Thucydides — is obsolete. As if a calendar change caused a revolution in human nature that transformed the international arena from a Hobbesian struggle for power into a gentleman's club where violations of territorial integrity just don't happen.

"That is not 21st-century, G-8, major-nation behavior," says Kerry.

Makes invasion sound like a breach of etiquette — like using the wrong fork at a Beacon Hill dinner party.

Putin's more cynical advisers might have thought such adolescent universalism to be a ruse. But Obama coupled these amazing words with even more amazing actions:

(1) Upon coming into office, he initiated the famous "reset" to undo the "drift" in relations that had occurred during the George W. Bush years.

But that drift was largely due to the freezing of relations Bush imposed after Russia's invasion of Georgia. Obama undid that push-back and wiped the slate clean — demanding nothing in return.

(2) Canceled missile-defense agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic. Without even consulting them. A huge concession to Putin's threats — while again asking nothing in return.

And sending a message that, while Eastern Europe may think it achieved post-Cold War independence, in reality it remains in play, subject to Russian influence and interests.

(3) In 2012, Obama assured Dmitry Medvedev he would be even more flexible with Putin on missile defense as soon as he got past the election.

(4) The Syria debacle. Obama painted himself into a corner on chemical weapons — threatening to bomb and then backing down — and allowed Putin to rescue him with a promise to get rid of Syria's stockpiles.

Obama hailed this as a win-win, when both knew — or did Obama really not know? — he had just conferred priceless legitimacy on Bashar Assad and made Russia the major regional arbiter for the first time in 40 years.

(5) Obama keeps cutting defense spending. His latest budget will reduce it to 3% of GDP by 2016 and cut the Army to pre-Pearl Harbor size — just as Russia is rebuilding, as Iran is going nuclear and as China announces yet another 12%-plus increase in military spending.

Puzzling. There is no U.S. financial emergency, no budgetary collapse. Obama declares an end to austerity — for every government department except the military.

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Who would have thought?

The U.S. spends hundreds of billions of dollars to help build the Space Station. Then we scrap or Space Shuttles and become dependent on Russia to transport our astronauts who then charge us a arm and leg.

Space Station

 Russia will charge the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)  $71

million to transport just one American astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard its Soyuz spacecraft in 2016.

That’s more than triple the $22 million per seat the Russians charged in 2006, according to a July 8 audit report by NASA’s inspector general. (See NASA IG-13-019.pd)

NASA spent $60 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars to help build the ISS and that figure would increase to $100 billion if the cost of using space shuttles to assemble the ISS was factored in, the IG report noted.

NASA still contributes $3 billion annually to cover the space station’s operating costs, and signed an agreement to provide the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space an additional $15 million annually “to manage non-NASA research on the ISS.”

But NASA has little choice but to pay Russia's inflated ticket prices. Ever since August 2011, when the U.S. space agency mothballed its 30-year-old space shuttle program, NASA has had no way of getting American astronauts to the space station. The Russian Soyuz is now “the only vehicle capable of transporting crew to the ISS,” the IG report noted. 

FULL STORY - CNS News

Looks like time for private companies like to pick up the slack.

List of private spaceflight companies

Russia Planning Life after Assad?

As the saying goes, there is a time to hold them, and a time to fold them.

Seems Russia is not certain of its ally, Bashar Assad in Syria and is moving forward. No one can blame them. I mean really. How would they benefit from sticking around?

Navy chief says Russia wants naval bases abroad

MOSCOW — Russia is talking to Cuba, Vietnam and the Indian Ocean island country of Seychelles about housing Russian navy ships, the nation’s navy chief said in remarks reported Friday.



Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov told the state RIA Novosti news agency that Russia is in talks about setting up maintenance and supply facilities for Russian ships in those countries but wouldn’t give any further details, the Associated Press reported.


Russia’s only existing naval base outside the Soviet Union is located in the Syrian port of Tartus. A squadron of Russian navy ships, including several assault ships carrying marines, is currently heading to Tartus in a show of support for a longtime ally whom Moscow protected from international sanctions and continued to supply with weapons.


Full Story Washington Times

Russian Helicopters for Syria Stopped

Dang, the plot thickens. I was under the impression that the helicopter deal was a no go, and, hard to believe, I was just so wrong.

British Insurer Pulls Cover on Russian Arms Ship

A British marine insurer has withdrawn cover from a Russian ship believed to be carrying overhauled combat helicopters to Syria, after finding out there were weapons on-board.

The MV Alaed, currently in the North Sea, is believed to be carrying a cargo of Mil Mi-25 attack helicopters en route to Syria from Russia as well as coastal-based anti-ship missiles. Russian cargo line Femco, which owns the MV Alaed, says the insurer, Standard Club, has suspended cover on its ships.

OOOH, so there are helicopters! I am shocked, just shocked!

Now get this.

He also said military equipment being supplied to Syria was defensive in nature and could not be used against civilians.

RIA Novosti

What an incredible lie. I would like to see the weapon which can distinguish between civilians and combatants, but I ain't holding my breath.

Khodorkovsky Trial

They say, we say.
All in all looks to me most likely Russia has a ways to go in creating an independent judiciary.

Wonder what if anything the West should do? I am inclined to say it's not our problem.

Russia accuses West of meddling in Khodorkovsky trial



(Reuters) - Russia accused the United States and Europe on Tuesday of trying to influence the trial of jailed former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, calling such efforts unacceptable and warning the West to mind its own business.

Moscow's angry message came as Khodorkovsky, whose imprisonment has been a bone of contention between Russia and the West for years, awaited a new sentence that could keep him in jail until 2017 after being found guilty of theft.

Prosecutors are seeking an additional six-year prison term for Khodorkovsky, the former Yukos oil company CEO who is 10 months from the end of an eight-year sentence imposed after a previous trial during Vladimir Putin's presidency.
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"Attempts to apply pressure on the court are unacceptable," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement,
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Western officials said the guilty verdict raised doubts about the Kremlin's commitment to the rule of law and human rights, and warned they were closely watching the case.


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Putin's Prisoner

VIDEO LINK

Russia's Covert War

It is rare nowadays that in the mass media much news about Georgia hits the front page. How much of this covert war is still going on?

I suspect currently it is the old fashion cloak and dagger stuff, espionage and whatnot which Russia employs to muzzle true independence of Georgia.

Russia waged covert war on Georgia starting in '04

Russia waged a covert war against Georgia that included missile attacks, arms shipments to anti-government rebels and car bombings since 2004, a newly disclosed U.S. Embassy cable says.

REMNANTS OF WAR: A South Ossetian honor guard pays his respects at a war memorial in the village of Khetagurovo on Sunday amid the wreckage of cars burned during the brief Russia-Georgia war in August 2008. Russian troops have stayed in South Ossetia to this day. (Associated Press)

Among the secret war operations were a 2007 helicopter gunship attack on the headquarters of a pro-government group in the Georgian province of Abkhazia, and the murder of Georgian police officers in the town of Gory. Known inside the Russian security services as "active measures," the tactics employed against Georgia included political disinformation campaigns, industrial sabotage and assassinations.

"The variety and extent of the active measures suggests the deeper goal is turning Georgia from its Euroatlantic orientation back into the Russian fold," said the cable, signed by the U.S. ambassador to Georgia, John Tefft.

FULL STORY