Why It's So Hard for Obama to Be Tough on Russia (For starters, it's because Obama is a typical non-serious Democrat "world leader")

"The president needs Putin as his ally to accomplish his most ambitious second-term goals."

The Atlantic Monthly  "But the harder reality is that most of the time the president will spend on foreign policy in coming months will focus on risk mitigation—trying to avoid a catastrophe more than working to create a triumph."

 

Putin playing for keeps  "The U.S. wants to threaten Russia with reprisal?  Does the U.S. (which ceded all ground under a phony Obama ‘red line’ in Syria to Putin) need Russia’s help on Syria? The Russians have answer for that.  Check."

 

Why Ukraine? Why Now?  "Meanwhile, President Obama has learned nothing from history.  With active Russian support, Iran is virtually a nuclear power. The current North Korean monster Kim has more respect for Dennis Rodman than for Barack Obama. Obama’s first big foreign policy decision was to betray our allies in Eastern Europe in order to curry favor with Putin. " ...

 

DEBKAfile: The Ukraine crisis: Russia may halt (START) strategic weapons inspections, revert to Cold War tactics  "Two years ago, Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev renewed the treaty. The incumbent Russian president Vladimir Putin is now threatening to abdicate from the 23-year pact, i.e., warning the United States and the West that Moscow is prepared to revert to the belligerent posture maintained by the Soviet Union in the years of the Cold War unless they back off on punitive measures over the Ukraine dispute."

 

Hillary’s Russia Problem More Than ‘Reset’   "Where does Clinton really stand on Russia? Russia’s invasion of Crimea should be pause to consider what lessons should be learned. Alas, if her reliance on Tauscher is any indication, Clinton’s “re-set” moment was not simply a photo-op gone awry; it is symptomatic of bad judgment and a continuing self-destructive embrace."

Any reset regret yet?  "The Russians are unlikely to respect a country that doesn't respect itself. All of this brings back memories of the last U.S. administration so eager to be liked. Jimmy Carter spoke of the need to get over our “inordinate fear of communism” and its lead sponsor, the USSR. The Soviets treated that speech like a starter's pistol for a footrace. They ran rampant in Africa, Asia, and Latin America."