Obama’s Chairman of the Joint Chief nominee: Russia is an ‘existential threat’ to the United States

In the 2012 presidential debate between the congenitally smarmy and clownish Barack Obama and the hapless and fearful of offending Mitt Romney, Barack Obama leveled this charge against Romney:

OBAMA: Governor Romney, I’m glad that you recognize that Al Qaida is a threat, because a few months ago when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia, not Al Qaida; you said Russia, in the 1980s, they’re now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War’s been over for 20 years

But Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s.

Obama was wrong then. But if he had been right, then the testimony of his own nominee to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Joe Dunford would have provided damning appraisal on the fecklessness of Obama’s foreign policy:

During his confirmation hearing Thursday morning, President Barack Obama’s pick to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Vladimir Putin’s Russia ranked No.1.

Moscow’s behavior is “nothing short of alarming,” the general said, adding that “Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security” and “could pose an existential threat to the United States.”

If Chief Justice John Roberts is reading this, we’re using a dictionary where this is found:

An existential threat is a threat to something’s survival.

One of the critical geo-political errors made by George H. W. Bush was treating Russia, the successor state to the USSR, as some sort of pet Yorkie that could be made to perform tricks rather than a nuclear-armed kleptocracy ruled by, as George Patton would have said, ‘recently civilized Mongolian bandits.’ George Bush was getting the formula right when he left office. He had looked into Putin’s soul and beheld a seething, effervescing puddle of hate and corruption.

China may be our most dangerous adversary. Iran is the one most likely to do something really ugly. But Russia is the only nation in the world that has set out to pick a fight with the United States for no other reason than Putin needs a permanent enemy to fight in order to remain in power. This was obvious in 2009. It is staggeringly obvious today.

So Obama owes the nation answers to several question.

Via: Red State

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[EDITORIAL] Behind Barack Obama’s delusions of global respect

At a town-hall meeting last week, President Obama proudly bragged that “today, once again, the United States is the most respected country on earth.”

That jaw-dropper makes sense to him — because the only opinion that counts for the president is the opinion of folks who share his ideology: above all, the belief that America should never use its power unless “world opinion” (i.e., pretty much those same folks) agrees.

So it doesn’t matter that Vladimir Putin laughs at Obama’s America — continuing his invasion of Ukraine with just enough “deniability” that Obama can pretend it’s something else.

Or that China knows it can continue its grab of key sea areas, even building vast artificial islands on which to plant its flag (and weapons), because Obama will never risk confrontation.

Or that both Moscow and Beijing continue to give their hackers free rein to attack US targets — confident that Obama will overlook anything as ethereal as cyberspace.

Or that Bashar al-Assad is back to using chemical weapons, because Obama has already proved he lacks the will to enforce his own “red line.”

(Bonus disrespect: The Syrian butcher is also helping ISIS slaughter rival anti-Assad
forces because he figures “world opinion” will support his own odious regime once ISIS is the only other choice.)

Do Poland or the Czech Republic respect Obama after he pulled US anti-missile bases out of their territory as part of his pathetic “reset button” bid to win Putin’s love? Or, eyes on Ukraine, do they worry how else Obama’s America will fail them?

Time and again, Obama told Israelis he has their back. He promised all options were on the table to stop Iran from getting the bomb. Now he says military action is off the table — and his planned nuclear deal, by his own account, leaves Tehran set to build nukes within a dozen years.

The Saudis and other Arab rulers feel just as abandoned: That’s why most of them declined to even show for Obama’s “Arab summit” last month.

As for Iran: It’s already breaking the “interim” nuclear deal by building enriched-uranium stockpiles far larger than it promised to hold as of June 30. The mullahs plainly figure he won’t call them on it — nor on any “deniable” violations of whatever accord he winds up with.

Via: New York Post

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Russian moves raise stakes in Ukraine conflict

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine, Ukraine (AP) - Masked gunmen stormed the parliament of Ukraine's strategic Crimea region as Russian fighter jets screamed above the border, while Ukraine's newly formed government pledged to prevent a national breakup with the strong backing of the West - the stirrings of a potentially dangerous confrontation reminiscent of Cold War brinksmanship.

Moscow reportedly granted shelter to Ukraine's fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, who was said to be holed up in a luxury government retreat and to have scheduled a news conference Friday near the Ukrainian border. As gunmen wearing unmarked camouflage uniforms erected a sign reading "Crimea is Russia" in the provincial capital, Ukraine's interim prime minister declared that the Black Sea territory "has been and will be a part of Ukraine."

The escalating conflict sent Ukraine's finances plummeting further, prompting Western leaders to prepare an emergency financial package.

Yanukovych, whose approach to Moscow set off three months of pro-Europe protests, finally fled by helicopter last weekend as his allies deserted him. The humiliating exit was a severe blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had been celebrating his signature Olympics even as Ukraine's drama came to a head. The Russian leader has long dreamt of pulling Ukraine - a huge country of 46 million people considered the cradle of Russian civilization - closer into Moscow's orbit.

(AP) Pro-Russian demonstrators march with a huge Russian flag during a protest in front of a local... Full Image

For Ukraine's neighbors, the specter of Ukraine breaking up evoked memories of centuries of bloody conflict.

"Regional conflicts begin this way," said Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, calling the confrontation "a very dangerous game."

Russia has pledged to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. But the dispatch of Russian fighter jets Thursday to Ukraine's borders and drills by some 150,000 Russian soldiers - almost the entirety of its troop force in the western part of the country - signaled strong determination not to lose Ukraine to the West.

Via: My Way

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Assad: Syria to fulfil chemical weapons initiative if U.S. ends threats - agency

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Syria will fulfil an initiative to hand over its chemical weapons only when the United States stops threatening to strike Syria, RIA news agency quoted President Bashar al-Assad as saying in a television interview.

Assad also said that Damascus will begin handing over information on its chemical weapons stockpiles one month after it joins a anti-chemical weapons convention.

"When we see the United States really wants stability in our region and stops threatening, striving to attack, and also ceases arms deliveries to terrorists, then we will believe that the necessary processes can be finalized," he was quoted as saying in an interview with Russian state television.

Via: Yahoo News

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Russia gave UN 100-page report in July blaming Syrian rebels for Aleppo sarin attack syria

BERLIN — Russia says a deadly March sarin attack in an Aleppo suburb was carried out by Syrian rebels, not forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, and it has delivered a 100-page report laying out its evidence to the United Nations.

A statement posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry website late Wednesday said the report included detailed scientific analysis of samples that Russian technicians collected at the site of the alleged attack, Khan al Asal in northern Syria. The attack killed 26 people.

A U.N. spokesman, Farhan Haq, confirmed that Russia delivered the report in July.

The report itself was not released. But the statement drew a pointed comparison between what it said was the scientific detail of the report and the far shorter intelligence summaries that the United States, Britain and France have released to justify their assertion that the Syrian government launched chemical weapons against Damascus suburbs on Aug. 21. The longest of those summaries, by the French, ran nine pages. Each relies primarily on circumstantial evidence to make its case, and they disagree with one another on some details, including the number of people who died in the attack.

The Russian statement warned the United States and its allies not to conduct a military strike against Syria until the United Nations had completed a similarly detailed scientific study into the Aug. 21 attack. It charged that what it called the current “hysteria” about a possible military strike in the West was similar to the false claims and poor intelligence that preceded the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Via: McClatchey

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/05/201268/russia-releases-100-page-report.html#.UikG6MakqFk#storylink=cpy

UPDATE 2-Russia sends warships to Mediterranean as Syria tension rises

 Interfax says two Russian warships head to Mediterranean

* Navy official says no plans to beef up forces

* U.S. is repositioning warships in Mediterranean (Adds details of naval force)

By Timothy Heritage

MOSCOW, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Russia is sending two warships to the east Mediterranean, Interfax news agency said on Thursday, but Moscow denied this meant it was beefing up its naval force there as Western powers prepare for military action against Syria.

Interfax quoted a source in the armed forces' general staff as saying Russia, Syria's most powerful ally, was deploying a missile cruiser from the Black Sea Fleet and a large anti-submarine ship from the Northern Fleet in the "coming days".

Any strengthening of the navy's presence could fuel tension, especially as the United States has said it is repositioning naval forces in the Mediterranean following an alleged chemical weapons attack which it blames on Syrian government forces.

"The well-known situation now in the eastern Mediterranean required us to make some adjustments to the naval force," the source said in a reference to the events in Syria.

It was not clear when the vessels would arrive but Interfax said the Moskva missile cruiser was currently in the North Atlantic and would set sail in the next few days.

Via: Rueters

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