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.
Tell us what you did,,,. You must have served, right? And im anti Ukraine, and pro truth. Not pro Russia. You and a few other Chickenhawks here are horny for a shooting war. (of course, never personally though) So you are the actual traitor.
For bonus points; you believe Ukraine is in a shooting war with Russia, so see if you can think of why it is an unusually bad idea to unexpectedly launch a few heavyweight ballistic missiles in the Nuclear capable class. There is a reason we didn’t conduct unannounced Polaris test launches 100 miles off the Russian coast back in the day.
Always fun to risk a nuclear war to drop a couple of 1000 lb warheads on target. Ukes are a bright bunch. We have tested a method of using ICBMs in this way. But its pretty much been nixed, too dangerous to risk making someone think we have launched a nuclear attack.
A bigger concern could justifiably be that while the US has ignored Central and Southern America, chaos has taken over in Central America. Russian and Chinese influence are increasing south of our border.
US citizens are real sick of the mess that's been made of the world. We're frightened for the future we face in the US.
If Ted Cruz is going to be the next president, what's the point of starting on a sour note by having already taking sides in an issue that isn't ours? Leave it to Germany to sort it out.
Does one have to be a member of the military to call the PaulBots/Alex Jones freaks traitors? They are anti-American, and thus are no friends of mine.
And im anti Ukraine, and pro truth. Not pro Russia.
Then why are you vomiting up trash from Russian media? If you are not Pro-Russian, then you should stop repeating what you hear from Russian state controlled media, and then claiming you are "pro-Truth." You are pro-useful idiot, maybe, but not truth.
You and a few other Chickenhawks here are horny for a shooting war.
Says who? This is just the insult the Putinistas always give, because their media tells them that they are in a conflict with dark and nefarious forces who want to wage war against Russia. Give me one quote from any FReeper here and a link who has said "let's have a shooting war with Russia," or anything like it.
For bonus points; you believe Ukraine is in a shooting war with Russia,
You don't? Even if you want to play stupid and say that the separatists, who are from Russia and are led by Russians, aren't officially backed, we still have photographs of Russian soldiers on Russian soil shooting at Ukraine. It is not a matter of opinion or a product of "Soros" brainwashing.
Always fun to risk a nuclear war to drop a couple of 1000 lb warheads on target.
The Ukrainians have no nuclear missiles. They were taken from them under the false promise by Clinton and the Russkies that they would not be subject to invasion by the Reds, which is currently occuring.
Omama is your man, the antiReagan.
Germany and the United States are allies in NATO, the 28 nation military alliance formed to protect us from Russia’s hunger for conquest, murder, and empire.
If Cruz wants to be President, he better be like Reagan, and not like your weak Obama, who seems afraid of Russia.
I want a President who is talking about putting US troops on the US border and dealing with OUR problems. If Cruz is so concerned about returning land, how about returning Guantanamo to Cuba? (sarcasm)
That is accurate and what I said, be strong like Reagan, to prevent the left and you from rebuilding what Reagan and we, defeated at great cost in treasure and lives.
Preventing Russia from bringing back the possibility of the end of mankind through their Cold War and the threat of global annihilation and fighting their war against the free nations through causing death and destruction around the globe is not "meddling".
Here is the extreme stupidity of the Paulbots and the reason why they should have no access to power. This is a recipe for suicide on par with disarming our Nukes like Obama wants.
In the grand scheme of things, both of you seem to have an inflated sense of the importance of Ukraine to world civilization. As far as Crimea goes, it’s been a Russian base even when technically part of Ukraine, and it wasn’t a problem. JMHO
How confused you are, it isn’t the importance of Ukraine, it is the importance of Russia.
Cruz can see past his nose, you can’t.
Most importantly, Crimea doesn't want to be given back.
I don't know what Senator Cruz was trying to accomplish here.
You just got done saying that we should not have any NATO obligations. It is only logical to conclude then that you would see no importance in anything going on in Ukraine, since, naturally, you see no importance in anything that goes on anywhere. You do not believe that there are any world threats to our survival, whether it is a renewed Soviet or a rising Chinese dragon.
As far as Crimea goes, it’s been a Russian base even when technically part of Ukraine
The Russkies had a base there, in agreement with the Ukranians, but Crimea itself was not a Russian base.
Good on Cruz ... there is leadership.
Crimea is Ukraine.
Putin and all the Putinista’s here want to forget the history but we remember how Stalin took Ukrainian land...the Holodomor and then the Russians settled in those lands fertilized by the corpses of millions of Ukrainians.
Once again Russians under Putin are killing Ukrainians in Ukraine and taking Ukrainian lands.
Cruz counters Obama’s and Putin’s lies and we counter the Putinista’s lies.
How do you know that? Before the "referendum," all the polls indicated that, though the desire for being independent of Ukraine was stronger than in the East and South of Ukraine (where it is nill), they did not have a majority of people on their side, and there are millions of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians living in Crimea.
The referendum itself was called by a "Prime Minister" who became such by walking into the Crimean Rada and declaring himself Prime Minister, and he bolstered his claim with Russkie soldiers armed with grenade launchers and machine guns.
The referendum was then conducted under wide spread intimidation, with people being tortured and even murdered, and the media entirely captured and playing and replaying propaganda. And incase that wasn't good enough, they even took the time to truck in ballots with the "yes" already marked, and had no problem letting children vote, amongst many other crooked things.
The end result was a soviet style result of an absurd super majority.
So, why do you believe that Crimea doesn't want to be given back when there has been no legitimate vote to find out?
I was in Sevastopol last August talking to the locals and counting more Russian flags flying than Ukrainian ones.
Of course, what do I know? I've only been to Crimea and the Donbas four times in the past 8 years, married into their culture and speak with people residing in eastern Ukraine on an almost daily basis.
Perhaps your many visits to this region and your interactions with the local populace have been different? Please share.
Presumably you are not a professional pollster who was polling everywhere in each city in Crimea:
Moreover, in a more recent Razumkov Center survey (from December 21-25 2013), while substantial minorities endorsed either Crimean independence (35 percent) or joining “another state” (29 percent), a majority (56 percent was opposed to either of the political options involving Crimea’s separation from Ukraine. Of course, it is anyone’s guess how these proportions have been affected by the events of the past two months in the context of a highly partisan political and informational environment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/06/do-crimeans-actually-want-to-join-russia/
There was a greater degree of support for annexation in Crimea than anywhere else, but not the 90 or so percent with alleged "record turnout," which would mean that the Tatar population voted en mass to be annexed too.
Who am I to argue with a Washington Post blog and a Freeper who I believe it is safe to conclude has never set foot in Ukraine?
I guess my observations from actual interactions with the locals and many visits to the region must've been a figment of my own imagination.
They are irrelevant, since, for all I know, you were hanging around with the commies who still pine for Stalin as opposed to the Tatars who were being murdered by Stalin. The fact that these two greatly opposed groups exist there, as well as the poll results, makes it impossible to verify your claim that a majority of Crimeans wanted to join the evil empire.
That's it! I must've been talking to all the wrong people. Every last one of them.
What's wrong with me making that conclusion? I don't know you or what you were doing there. You are asking me to believe you instead of the data I have in front of me. If you can provide proof to back up your claims, then that would be very different.
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