Obama and Putin

Some people are wondering whether Vladimir Putin is an authentic tough  guy or only a blustering bully. He seems to be enough of a show off about his toughness that I would guess he is more the latter. The interesting thing is that it may not matter.  People of either type usually can get their way when opposed only by wimps. In the Ukraine in the last few days, he has seized territory from a European nation in violation of a treaty guaranteed by the United States, and the most Obama and Kerry have come up with is a few harsh words and some sort of so-called sanctions against twelve or so of Putin’s buddies. Putin ridiculed the response as farcical, and he was right to do so. It was also weak, embarrassing,  and pathetic.

Of course Obama’s defenders have jumped into action in his defense, often by creating a false dichotomy by pretending the only choices are between something similar to what Obama has done and risking war, and then suggesting Obama’s  critics want to go to war with Russia.  This is of course nonsense. Putin’s aggression is serious and dangerous, but it is not a cause for war, and no responsible critic of Obama has suggested it is. There are options available far short of war which are stronger than merely bleating and doing almost nothing. Russia can be punished in its international trade, its membership in the G8, and other economic areas. The United States can strengthen political and military cooperation with Russia’s former colonies in central and eastern Europe, including placing a missile defense system in Poland. There are many other possibilities as well. However, while I hope I am wrong, my money for the next two years and nine months is on bleating and doing essentially nothing. (It is not that Obama is incapable of behaving harshly. He can be quite ruthless toward Americans who oppose him politically. It is rather that he seems incapable of any harshness  toward this country’s enemies and opponents. There is way too much truth for comfort in the recent joke that the way to make Obama get  tough with Russia would be to have him pretend Putin is a successful, self-supporting, married, heterosexual taxpayer who lives in flyover country and votes Republican.)

This will make the world more dangerous and less stable. Some people around the world may suffer harsh consequences from  the American people’s almost criminal folly in re-electing this incredibly bad president in 2012.