Posted by
Bert Chapman on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:59:52 AM
During her visit to Moscow, Hillary Clinton has just demonstrated why she is unfit to be Secretary of State. Clinton claimed in public remarks that certain unnamed officials in both Washington and Moscow were essentially stuck in a Cold War mindset. Here's a news flash for Hillary: Russian behavior in the last year or two has reflected an increased assertiveness and shown rhetoric and action reminiscent of the Cold War era. If Hillary had been paying attention to public news reports, as well as the secret intelligence she has access to, she would have noticed that increased Russian oil and natural gas revenues are being devoted to enhanced military spending. This has been reflected in increased investment in that country's nuclear forces and conventional forces to try to augment serious declines in Russian military power and performance since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Has she forgotten how Russia used military force against our democratic ally Georgia last year? Has she failed to notice increasing Russian assertiveness in the Arctic including the public relations stunt of planting a Russian flag on the ocean floor at the North Pole to assert Russian "sovereignty" over that region? Has she not noticed increased Russian cooperation with China as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Council? Has she not noticed Russia's lack of cooperation with us in trying to stop Iranian desires to obtain nuclear weapons? Can she tell us how Russia has cooperated with us in reducing the nuclear threat posed by North Korea? Has she not noticed how Russia has used its energy resources to attempt to bring former Soviet republics like Ukraine back into de facto satellite status or the dangerously growing dependence of many European countries on Russian oil and natural gas resources? We also need to remember that the Russian Federation has made no attempt to come to grips with the multiple crimes of the Soviet era.
This naivete about resurging Russian foreign and national security policymaking was reflected at the beginning of the Obama Administration when birdbrain Vice President Joe Biden claimed we could "reset" relations with Russia. The idea that foreign relations with any country, let alone a major country like the Russian federation, can be adjusted like a television remote or other electronic device, is extremely stupid and irresponsible. Does the Obama Administration recognize that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, not ostensible President Dmitri Medvedev, is the real power in Russian policymaking. Putin's background as a KGB agent gives him far greater knowledge of how to use power effectively and ruthlessly than "Messiah Obama," babbling Biden, and harebrained Hillary. I don't think the Russians are about to launch a nuclear strike or even conventional military action against us, but it is the height of naivete to think the present Russian regime can be regarded as genuinely friendly or desirous of advancing U.S. national interests. Since the onset of the Communist Revolution, leftist westerners such as Hillary Clinton have been extrordinarily naive and even stupid about the real nature of Russian governments and how they view their national interests. This naivete has sometimes even afflicted those of us on the conservative side of the political spectrum as evidenced by President George W. Bush's declaration that he had looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and got a "glimpse of his soul."
This militarily aggresive mindset was reflected through 75 years of Communism and has continued, after a decade of repose under Boris Yeltsin's government through the Putin presidency of the Russian Federation. The Cold War mindset is alive and well in Moscow and we in the west should accept that reality and adapt our Russian policies accordingly.