Posted on 03/10/2014 7:28:17 AM PDT by elhombrelibre
Its not at all clear what Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk thinks he can accomplish during his visit with President Obama later this week. Its a good bet that hes not coming to urge on Obama the advice offered by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.
I had to read Friedmans March 4 column twice to be sure I hadnt fallen for a parody from The Onion. Friedman has a prescription to weaken Vlad Putin that sounds like something written by Al Gore and edited by the folks who publish Mad Magazine.
According to Friedman, if Obama wanted to frighten Putin, wed invest in (i.e., have the government pay for) facilities to liquefy and export natural gas, making Europe more dependent on us; (2) raise the tax on gasoline; (3) create a national carbon tax and a national renewable energy standard all of which, as Friedman admits, would increase the price Americans pay for energy.
Friedman concludes but doesnt explain -- that this plan threatens Putin. Not to put too fine a point on it, but hes nuts. Raising taxes on Americans and increasing the price we pay for energy does precisely nothing to pressure Putin to liberate the Crimea or decline to conquer the rest of Ukraine. Hed get a good laugh out if it, though.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
The only thing that Putin is afraid of, is that Friedman will stop writing.
True. Friedman is a clown.
We should start military overflights, naval blockades and moving troops into the region.
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