“2016 is going to be the second wave of the return of freedom to this country.”
Posted on 07/30/2014 12:14:52 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) echoed Ronald Reagan's famous challenge to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Tuesday when he officially called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to return territory Russia annexed earlier this year back to Ukraine.
"Mr. Putin, give back Crimea," Cruz said at the Young America's Foundation in Washington. "Why is it so unimaginable for President Obama to utter those words?"
Cruz, a potential 2016 presidential contender, has made foreign policy hawkishness a key part of his political brand. Speaking before the group of conservative college students Tuesday, he repeatedly accused Obama of being unwilling to aggressively challenge the United States' geopolitical foes.
"We need to stand up and speak out for freedom," said Cruz. "The words that come from the president of the United States matter. President Reagan demonstrated that. One of the saddest things is President Obama doesn't do that."
Cruz cited Ukraine, where Russia took over Crimea and separatists backed by Moscow are continuing to fight the government, as a specific case where the United States should have a bolder foreign policy.
"Ukraine is a good example to use," said Cruz. "I think we should have done several things immediately. Number one, I think we should have gone forward with installing the anti-ballistic missile batteries ... that were scheduled to go into effect and that President Obama canceled in 2009 in an effort to appease Putin."
Cruz suggested Obama's reluctance to more forcefully fight Putin's push into Ukraine was tantamount to "appeasement."
"It's pretty clear that appeasement didn't work," he said.
Good for him...
Dumb remark by Cruz. Reagan is dead and the Cold War is over. Time to deal with the here and now.
Cold War is over? The only people I’ve heard saying that are Paultards.
The spirit of Reagan lives in all real conservatives who wish no one any harm and who value freedom. Pro-putin punks can pay homage to a former KGB COL all they want. Real American conservatives know we’ve our own heroes.
That’s not fair. Obama said it to Romney when he tried to warn people about Putin. Now, Putinistas have taken up Obama’s fantasy.
Russia isn’t going to give back the Crimea. It is what it is.
Putin didn’t expect the Berlin Wall to come down either.
Putin’s inhuman regime will be shattered to pieces just like the EVIL EMPIRE he loyally served.
Be careful. We’ve so-called conservatives on FreeRepublic who pray for Putin and his empire.
I’m only voting for Putin if the other two candidates are Lizzie Warren and NJFatboy.
He has his loving admiring prags on here.
Dumb remark, Catherine the great established their bases there. The Charge of the light brigade was British in the mid 1800s fighting Russians, one of the great siege battles of WWII was Nazis at Sevastopol in Crimea.
There is no way the Ruskis are going to let Sevastopol become a NATO navy base at the hands of the Kiev putsch.
Everyone is acting like they seized Nova Scotia. Cruz is brighter than this.
Cruz gets it. The retards still depicting the Ukrainians as Nazis who conducted a "putsch" are traitors and know-nothings.
I'm not confident about Ted Cruz in foreign affairs. Historically, asking Russia to give up Crimea doesn't make sense if the goal really is to negotiate a settlement in Ukraine.
Is he latching onto this issue to avoid saying everyone who entered the US illegally this summer should be given a one-way ticket home...no exceptions. How about a bold move like the US should set up a DMZ militarizing and securing 10 miles of Northern Mexico?
Ted Cruz hasn't spoken out about abolishing the Federal Reserve, either....another mistake? I'm not 100% in the Ted Cruz camp anymore.
Because Crimea was part of Russia before California was part of the U.S.
The idea that border changes initiated by the Soviet Premier are something that the U.S. should go to the barricades for over 20 years after the Soviet Union disintegrated is laughable.
Cruz should know better, but this doesn't surprise me at all.
I know, I know. They are the heirs of Madison and Jefferson. That’s why they are pounding urban areas of Donetsk with arty and heavy ballistic missiles. And calling anyone who resists that coup a “terrorist”. Just exactly like Nazis did. That’s why they have torchlight parades.
Sorry, but they are indeed national socialist, and most of their army is western Ukrainian and mobilized Svoboda, and has a full allegiance to the Banderists. Scratch a coupist, find a Nazi.
But go ahead, follow Obama, the EU, Kerry, McCain, the MSM, Ashton, and Soros. Opposing communism doesn’t make Nazis ok, never sport.
Mexico was part of the U.S., when?
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