Posted on by ColinTwiggs

Obama’s Wrong: The New Cold War’s Only Just Begun | The Daily Beast

Michael Weiss writes: “From propaganda to missile deployments, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is testing Obama’s resolve—while claiming to be America’s victim”…..

Putin has demanded, as the price for restoring at least the first frozen accord, that Washington end all sanctions against Russian officials; pay reparations for any losses sustained from those sanctions as well as retaliatory ones imposed by Russia against U.S. entities; cancel the Magnitsky Act, a landmark human rights law passed in 2012 aimed at penalizing corrupt and murderous Russian officials; reduce NATO personnel forces to levels they were as of 2000; and essentially rewrite the original radioactive disposal deal so America bears the brunt of the responsibility for it.

In response to what was, even by Putin’s standards, a risible attempt at extortion, the Russian opposition’s Leonid Volkov wrote on Facebook: “He should have asked for Alaska back, eternal youth, Elon Musk and a ticket to Disneyland.”

….what a turn for Obama, who has spent the last eight years insisting that the “Cold War is over” only to spend the eve of his departure witnessing its renascence.

The response should be to talk softly and continue polishing that big stick.

Source: Barack Obama’s Wrong: The New Cold War’s Only Just Begun – The Daily Beast

5 Replies to “Obama’s Wrong: The New Cold War’s Only Just Begun | The Daily Beast”

  1. I am confused. This comment seems to indicate Obama is wrong on something but all this does is tell us what Putin is demanding and not where or why Obama is wrong on his position. Putin’s demands are not proof Obama is wrong. Please don’t editorialize with snippits from the Daily Beast and make assurtions that Obama is “wrong”. You make your position look childish and uninformative.

    1. Hi Steve,
      To reproduce the entire Daily Beast article would breach copyright, so all I can offer is snippets and commentary. The theme of the article would have been clearer if I had included the first paragraph:

      “In one of the better studies of Putinology to appear in the last year, Mikhail Zygar’s All the Kremlin’s Men does much to upend the conventional wisdom about U.S.-Russian relations, particularly as offered by the American architects of those relations over the past eight years…..”

      Let me make myself clear. I think Barack Obama is a good man and a fine president in many ways. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Global politics is the graveyard of idealists; good honest men who sought to avoid war through diplomacy. They inevitably end up looking weak and achieve the exact opposite of their goal by emboldening unprincipled authoritarian leaders who lie, cheat and murder to achieve their aims. It is more like negotiating with Ali Baba and the forty thieves, or Blackbeard the Pirate, than Gandhi or the Dalai Lama. The world is not a nice place. Hence Teddy Roosevelt’s “talk softly and carry a big stick.”

      1. Hi Colin,
        on the contrary, Steve is not confused whatsoever. His response is only meant to refute any negative comments about Obama imho.
        He only criticizes, but does not offer a rebuttal argument with supportive facts.
        If Steve is not a bot, he is a trained dolt of the blue team.

        Also imho, Obama is a puppet, supported by TPTB, that mistakenly, by their hubris, pushed him into the presidency over Hillary in 08.
        He has no history, no records, no papers written while the head of the “prestigious” harvard law review, that we are privy to.
        TPTB calculated correctly that the red team would not attack the first “black man”, running for president, differing till 16 the first woman presidential candidate. Life throws curve balls however, now and again, and the “Donald” with all his “attitude”, and Hillary, with her serious health issues, were not accounted for.
        TPTB will probably lose this election, they will be pissed, we peasants on the other hand, will be pissing in our pants for the joy of it.
        The cronyism, the corruption, the elitism, the media collusion, needs to be
        brought to light. An arrogant, obnoxious, in your face, jersey guy, might be just what the doctor ordered.
        We will deal with “whatever”.

        Thank you for sharing your hard work and opinions,
        Tim

      2. Tim,
        Steve regularly posts comments. Definitely not a bot. Sometimes we even agree.
        Fortunately I don’t share your optimism about Trump’s chances. His irrational behavior scares me.
        All the red team had to do was put up a candidate who could fog a mirror and they would have beaten HRC.
        Instead they picked the one candidate who can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory…..and take the House down with him.

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