[nathanbedford]

Behold the fecklessness of American foreign policy.

Behold the self-destructive American energy policy.

Behold the triumph of Russian foreign policy.

Many of us who do not run with a hero worshiping domestic crowd do not acknowledge Vladimir Putin as a new saint, rather we have been well aware for some time of the axis of power, a caliphate if you will, running from Iran to the shores of the Mediterranean at Syria and including huge portions of Iraq and probably all of the Iraq.

in We have seen American foreign policy enable this caliphate to form by its ideologically forced withdrawal from Iraq, by its mindless deal with Iran removing the sanctions and facilitating their reach for nuclear weapons, and even actually financing this axis with billions of dollars delivered in cash, in secret, by night.

We have seen that this axis because of its Russian partnership is now equipped with nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them by plane and rocket already based in Iran and Syria. Any reasonable observer knows that Iran will soon have its own atomic weapon, thanks to Hillary and Barak.

At a time when Iran was on the ropes financially from the sanctions, Obama lifted the sanctions. At a time when Russia is utterly dependent on the price of oil for the regime there to survive, Obama wages war on energy. Hillary applauds him. So now instead of bankruptcy this new caliphate will be awash in oil and gas money.

Europe will become even more dependent upon Russia and the danger of a defection from NATO and from American influence by Germany, grown even more dependent on Russian energy, increases geometrically. Anyone who does not understand the potential significance of a relationship between Germany and Russia does not know the history of the Ribbentrop/Molotov pact and it's immediate consequences.

All of this was a stunning failure of American foreign policy. All of this is a triumph of Russian foreign policy which converted an enemy with whom it was in virtual war, Turkey, into a business partner and effective ally against the West possessed of an economic gun pointed directly at the head of the southern flank of NATO.

Let's see Hillary spin this one.

[nickcarraway]

Russia and Turkey were allies long before the dust up earlier this year. While the ignoratti were saying Russia and Turkey would go to war, I waa saying they would remain allies. It wasn’t hard to predict, and it had nothing to do with U.S. policy.

[thinden]

It’s the facts maam. Just the facts.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Russia is in a pretty position to be a major oil producer to the world. Does this have to mean hostilities? I’m not so sure. Most world uses of energy are in peace.

[ought-six]

Yup, you summed it up quite succinctly.

[Jim Noble]

I am reminded of Lord Palmerston’s axiom that nations do not have friends or enemies, only interests.

If Hofer is elected and follows through on his desire to join the Visegrad group, all that remains to reconstitute the Old Empire are Galicia, Volhynia, and Croatia. Ukraine as a unitary state never made any sense. Lembergers in their cafes cohabiting with Russian miners in Donetsk?

As before, the only major geopolitical question in Europe remains, where does the border between Germany and Russia lie? The Elbe is too far to the West. The Volga is too far to the East.

And the emnity between the Third Rome and the destroyers of Constantinople will, with certainty, re-emerge. It’s just that, right now, resolving the Ukraine problem (and destroying the international system that created it in the first place) is of more importance to Russia than needless conflict with Turkey.

Everything old is new again.

[piasa]

Yep...all going on in plain sight with an oblivious lazy media missing it all.

[pepsi_junkie]

Let's see Hillary spin this one.

She'll blame it on Abraham Lincoln somehow.