NEWSMAX: President Barack Obama needs to look “two or three moves out” as he weighs his response to Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula, which Moscow is unlikely to soon reverse, Obama’s former defense secretary, Robert Gates, said on Sunday.
Gates, a Russia expert and former CIA chief, portrayed a difficult path for Obama in which European allies may “huff and puff” but fail to match rhetoric with strong action and where Russian President Vladimir Putin feels he has the upper hand.
“From Putin’s standpoint, he’s in the catbird’s seat. He’s put himself in a position where we need him in terms of the Syrian chemical (weapons) deal. We need him in terms of the Iranian nuclear program,” Gates, who served as defense secretary from 2006 to 2011, said in a telephone interview with Reuters… (more)
Now, that our European allies have declared strong support and will flesh out how far they are willing to go at their meeting today, I think there is a great opportunity here for Obama to put Putin in his place and keep him from moving into East Ukraine.
The president can rebalance his weak foreign policy image by giving Putin a short ultimatum to pull his troops back and then put the most painful sanctions on Russia, for which we, together with our allies, have many effective options that would make the already sinking ruble plunge down farther and that would be a heavy blow to the Russian economy.
Putin is testing the waters. Without a strong response, we can kiss East Ukraine goodbye.
I hope that Obama’s advisers will come to the same conclusion. I think Kerry already has. It will be a fascinating next days to watch.