Foreign Policy: Russia exposes Obama's empty security promises to Estonia

 

Thomas Lifson    "Joining the now-notorious “red line” empty threat issued against Assad of Syria is a much more dangerous example of Barack Obama’s fatuous bluster, his assurance of NATO backing of the Baltic States last Wednesday in Tallinn, Estonia:

"The defense of Tallinn and Riga and Vilnius is just as important as the defense of Berlin and Paris and London," Obama said. "Article Five is crystal clear. An attack on one is an attack on all.
"So if, in such a moment, you ever ask again, who will come to help, you'll know the answer: the NATO alliance, including the armed forces of the United States of America, right here, present, now."

"Two days after President Obama issued this red line threat, Russia called his bluff.  Liis Kangsepp and Juhana Rossi report in the Wall Street Journal:"

The apparent abduction and detention of an Estonian security officer raised tensions between Estonia and Russia just two days after PresidentBarack Obama came to the country and vowed to defend it as a NATO member ...... Read more...

Our Unrealist President; Why Obama’s foreign policy has been quite far from what you’d expect of a realist.

...But restraint is not what fundamentally characterizes realism. Rather, because realists see the international arena as innately competitive and often dangerous, they believe that strength is critical to a successful foreign policy. A domestic realist welcomes not only police restraint but also the appropriate vigorous application of police power; similarly, a foreign-policy realist knows that restraint alone is an invitation to chaos and peril. By this standard, Obama is neither an authentic realist nor a successful foreign-policy president.

 Hayes: Don't Bet on a Muscular Obama Foreign Policy   "The WEEKLY STANDARD 
podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on why you shouldn't bet on President Obama using any muscle on his foreign policy."   (Audio)   More here.