All Roads Lead to Russia
The week began with Obama’s “tranquility,” but ends with 298 dead at Russian hands.
This week began with accolades about Barack Obama’s foreign policy prowess from his chief propagandist, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, who claimed his boss “has substantially furthered American interests and has substantially improved, uh, the uh, the, you know, uh, the tranquility of the, of the global community.”
Tranquility? Not so much.
On Thursday, as Israel began its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a Boeing 777 with 298 passengers, was shot down over Donetsk, near Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia, spreading debris and bodies for miles. While U.S. military and intelligence analysts have not released much information about the attack, no doubt exists about the cause: a sophisticated Russian-made surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. (See our real-time analysis of this attack.)
What is not yet known is whether the SAM was launched by regular Russian forces or by the so-called “pro-Russia separatist rebels” whom Russian President Vladimir Putin is well-known to be using as his insurgent surrogates in an effort to topple the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Spokesmen for both armies deny responsibility, and we can expect the usual lose-the-lead-in-diplomacy-doublespeak tactics from all concerned, along with finger-pointing and more denials. For our part, we would simply ask the question, “Who cares which one pulled the trigger?”
Both trails lead back to Putin, either directly, via use of Russian forces, or indirectly, through use of Putin’s insurgent surrogates, which he all but directly controls. Either way, Putin is responsible for the deaths of 298 civilians, including one American. Ironically, Putin was the first to condemn the act, blaming Ukraine: “This tragedy wouldn’t have happened if there had been peace on this territory, if the military actions hadn’t been restarted in southeast Ukraine.” Never mind the fact Ukraine wouldn’t have needed to use military force had Putin not organized, funded, armed and fomented the insurgency against which Ukraine was forced to react.
No doubt, Obama will join in the doublespeak charade, framing his perspective in “UN” terms. For five years Mr. Tranquility has systematically orchestrated the implosion of U.S. foreign policy. Starting with his World Apology Tour and continuing through a long chain of blatant missteps, Obama, our nation and the world are now reaping what he has sown. The shoot-down was possible only if Putin were allowed to continue his well-known-but-low-profile, thuggish re-consolidation campaign against the now-sovereign republics of what had been the “glorious Soviet empire.” That the Obama regime turned a blind eye toward Russia while it ran roughshod over its sovereign neighbors is disgraceful.
At least this event will highlight with laser focus Obama’s look-the-other-way approach to “the Russian problem” and spur angry questions as to why the U.S. failed to act earlier to stem aggressive Russian actions in Georgia, Crimea and now Ukraine. In any case, if Obama is not moved to decisive action following this wanton act of war involving the murder of 23 American innocents, and its very traceable set of proximate-cause dots ending at the Kremlin, then Putin will be further emboldened: Appeasement as foreign policy has never been a winner. The only thing despots truly understand is decisive action.
Even Democrat Carl Levin, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, insists, “Whoever did it should pay a full price. If it’s by a country, either directly or indirectly, then it could be considered an act of war.”
Summarizing the evidence gathered from the tragedy, one U.S. official stated, “All roads lead to the Russians.” We agree. Now let’s see if Obama will take a break from his full-time “day job” of stumping for donor cash long enough to focus his attention on fixing yet another crisis his malfeasance helped create.
