Obama SSSSlams Putin: 'Russia Is A Regional Power'

[kpete]

Obama dismisses Russia as ‘regional power’ acting out of weakness


THE HAGUE — President Obama acknowledged Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea would be difficult to reverse, but he dismissed Russia as a “regional power” that did not pose a leading security threat to the United States.

Concluding a summit here on nuclear security, Obama also warned that broader Russian military intervention in neighboring countries would trigger further economic sanctions that would disrupt the global economy but hit Russia the hardest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-dismisses-russia-as-regional-power-acting-out-of-weakness/2014/03/25/1e5a678e-b439-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/03/obama-says-russia-is-regional-power-not-americas-top-geopolitical-foe/

[Deep13]

1. I'm sure that will help matters.

It would be really nice if we had political leaders who were not completely ignorant of history.

[AverageJoe90]

2. The problem with that is.....Obama isn't.

He knows damn well that Putin will get away with whatever he wants until he's *forced* to stop.....that's something that Dubya didn't get even as Georgia was being trampled on(oh, and btw, that country's president was a crook, too).

[Deep13]

16. I don't think I would ever go broke betting on the historical ignorance...

... of American elected officials, or, based on your remark, of the general public.

Those of us who do study history are doomed to watch others repeat it.

[AverageJoe90]

17. It's not historically ignorant at all.

What *IS*, however, is people claiming that Russia has every right to "reclaim" parts of the Ukraine just because it was once part of the Russian Empire(and then the U.S.S.R.). It's also people ignoring Putin's past tendencies and the fact that Obama has done a better job dealing with him than the faux Texan ever could. And yes, btw, I also full well recognize that Georgia's president was far from innocent in the '08 scuffle, and was himself a shady individual; doesn't mean that Putin wasn't up to no good himself. Because he was.

BTW, I should clarify that I *do not* support a military intervention. I do, however, feel that sanctions are justified.

[Octafish]

3. It would be difficult to be more insulting to the Russkies.

The nation that gave the world people like Gagarin, Sakarov, and Solzhenytsin deserves a modicum of respect.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

5. It would be easy to be more insulting.

PBO could have called Putin, nekulturny or uncultured.

[Octafish]

12. It would be easy to be more insulting to the Russkies.

The real point is that a communication from the head of state became more than an insult; the Putin put-down represents a lost opportunty to advance two nations' interests through peace and prosperity.

[former9thward]

4. That "regional power" just sent a U.S. astronaut into space today.

Which we are unable to do. So what exactly is our category?

[phleshdef]

6. Big fucking deal. We've been there and done that.

[840high]

7. You do know we're paying them

millions for this.

[phleshdef]

9. I fail to see why this is important as far as which country has the most clout.

[former9thward]

10. We can't do it anymore.

The Empire descends and it won't be pretty.

[phleshdef]

11. Yea, actually we could, we just aren't spending the money on it these days.

We are still much wealthier as a country than Russia.

[BlueCheese]

8. Does that mean that they have Regional Ballistic Missiles?

[RandoLoodie]

13. the problem with Putin

is that he could probably defend himself in a street fight.

Thug virtues lead to thug actions.

[dawg]

14. He's right.

Military spending per Wikipedia:

[Spazito]

15. He's right, Russia isn't a world power...

it became a regional power with the breakup of the USSR. The question put to President Obama was in regard to a threat to the US, Russia is a threat to it's neighbors hence the regional power designation response.