General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama SSSSlams Putin: 'Russia Is A Regional Power'
Obama dismisses Russia as regional power acting out of weakness
THE HAGUE President Obama acknowledged Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putins 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
(39,154 posts)It would be really nice if we had political leaders who were not completely ignorant of history.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)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
(39,154 posts)... 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
(10,745 posts)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
(55,745 posts)The nation that gave the world people like Gagarin, Sakarov, and Solzhenytsin deserves a modicum of respect.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)PBO could have called Putin, nekulturny or uncultured.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)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
(32,028 posts)Which we are unable to do. So what exactly is our category?
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)840high
(17,196 posts)millions for this.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)former9thward
(32,028 posts)The Empire descends and it won't be pretty.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)We are still much wealthier as a country than Russia.
BlueCheese
(2,522 posts)RandoLoodie
(133 posts)is that he could probably defend himself in a street fight.
Thug virtues lead to thug actions.
dawg
(10,624 posts)Military spending per Wikipedia:
Spazito
(50,373 posts)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.