Is the bear back? Arthur Herman had a great article in the NY Post last week detailing the unchecked perils of a rejuvenated Russia during these times of appeasement. We either seem unable or unwilling to confront the sneaky and uncooperative military giant of Europe, instead settling for "reset" buttons and bogus START treaties that give up a fair chunk of our bargaining chips for free cocktails we would have gotten anyway. Are we making headway on Iran? No. Standing firm on missile defense? Not hardly. So what exactly are we getting from the newest member of the Nobel Appeasement Club? I can promise one thing: it's not a good night's rest:
The plane crash that killed Poland's president and 95 others is a tragedy for the Polish people and a loss of a good friend for the United States. For Poland's neighbor Russia, however, it's an opportunity to push for hegemony over Eastern Europe, as in the Iron Curtain days.
For the Russian bear is back. Like Dracula rising from his coffin, it now stalks the world long after we thought it dead and buried. And President Obama's feckless handling of foreign affairs is giving Russia's authoritarian leadership a chance like no other to expand its power -- and steadily diminish ours.
Some will believe the Russian account of the crash, that the Polish pilot deliberately endangered the lives of his president and the entire upper echelon of his country's leadership by trying to land in a thick fog despite repeated warnings from Russian ground control.
Others won't believe -- remembering that President Lech Kaczynski was a bitter foe of Russia's Vladimir Putin, and how Putin's dreaded FSB (the KGB's successor) was linked six years ago to a plot to poison Ukraine's president.
Either way, expect new, perhaps irresistible, pressure on Poland to toe the Kremlin line. Throw in the START treaty that Russia extracted from our president just last week, and anyone who imagined we won the Cold War had better think again.
Exit question: What exactly does Russia get out of their cozy relationship with Iran? Is it really just about money? I hate to play the conspiracy theorist but my mind can't help but wander down dark corners of the universe sometimes. Could the Russians be using radical Islam as a shield or front to antagonize the US and/or assure the destruction of Israel (sort of like Iran uses Hezbollah)?
Read the whole thing.
Good article and well thought out. Well, I think the plane crash was a premeditate act. C'mon, how many presidents of countries, along with their top cabinent members, get killed in plane accident, especially in the past 50 years, oh that's right, NONE. Sheesh, do I have to spell it out to ya, it was planned. You can't trust Russia, you never could, and you'll never be able to. They kiss your baby and still his/her lolly pop at the same time, and once again......we have a naive president, Obama, that probably thinks it was just an accident. Russia has been in bed with Iran for years. The good thing is, is that Russia and Iran would turn on each other in a heart beat. It's kinda like this......Russia is WWII Germany, and Iran is WWII Italy.
ReplyDeleteWell.....i guess that's it. By the way, ya can't trust China either.