Posted on 03/25/2014 11:58:36 AM PDT by mandaladon
THE HAGUE — President Obama acknowledged Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea would be difficult to reverse, but he dismissed Russia as a “regional power” that did not pose a leading security threat to the United States.
Concluding a summit here on nuclear security, Obama also warned that broader Russian military intervention in neighboring countries would trigger further economic sanctions that would disrupt the global economy but hit Russia the hardest.
“Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors — not out of strength but out of weakness,” Obama said in response to a reporter’s question about whether his 2012 election opponent, Mitt Romney, was right to characterize Russia as America’s biggest geopolitical foe.
“They don’t pose the number one national security threat to the United States,” Obama said in a news conference. “I continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan.”
Defending his response to the Ukraine crisis, Obama dismissed criticism that a perception of weakness abroad had prompted Putin to seize Ukraine’s autonomous Crimea region this month, an act the United States and Europe have called a violation of both Ukrainian and international law. But Obama made clear that no military response is being contemplated, unless Putin pushes into NATO member nations on Russia’s western border.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Very nice wrap up with Reagan...
Russia may be a ‘regional power’ but at least its president had been born on its soil,... unlike Obama.
“Russia is a “regional power” with enough nukes to kill half the population of the United States.”
Which is why Russia is so pathetic. Now they are acting out like a petulant child.
“But Putin knows that he is playing the better hand right now, and likely won’t ever have a better one.”
Putin is on a flush draw, drawing dead.
This childish action will only weaken Russia further.
“Russia is a global superpower, not a regional power”
OMG, you are from the 80s.
Ok, 1. Russia has to steal land like a common thief to base it’s rusting Navy.
2. If the Russian navy projects out, we will sink every sub they have within hours.
3. They have no real global projection capability.
4. There economy is 2 Trillion to our 16 Trillion.
5. They can bully weaker regional countries like Ukraine.
Hence they are a regional power...at best.
Russia’s Online-Comment Propaganda Army
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3078342/posts
Russia is a third world country:
Russian export in 2012 was $524,564,991,000.
Top ten breakdown:
Mineral fuels including oil: $375,423,947,000 (71.6% of total exports)
Iron and steel: $22,601,664,000 (4.3%)
Fertilizers: $11,176,846,000 (2.1%)
Inorganic chemicals: $7,835,699,000 (1.5%)
Machinery: $7,609,061,000 (1.5%)
Aluminum: $7,281,329,000 (1.4%)
Wood: $6,731,569,000 (1.3%)
Cereals: $6,246,547,000 (1.2%)
Copper: $5,787,339,000 (1.1%)
Organic chemicals: $4,516,890,000 (0.9%)
http://www.worldstopexports.com/russias-top-10-exports/2350
This is a typical third world export mix heavily dependent on raw materials.
Compare this to South Korea with a total export of $548.8 billion in 2012 (i.e. larger than Russia)
Top ten breakdown:
Electronic equipment: $119,084,386,000 (21.7% of total exports)
Vehicles: $70,074,094,000 (12.8%)
Machinery: $58,979,883,000 (10.8%)
Mineral fuels including oil: $57,492,603,000 (10.5%)
Ships, boats and other floating structures: $37,828,429,000 (6.9%)
Optical, technical and medical apparatus: $37,611,611,000 (6.9%)
Plastics: $28,381,150,000 (5.2%)
Iron and steel: $25,375,017,000 (4.6%)
Organic chemicals: $23,284,736,000 (4.3%)
Iron or steel products: $12,467,431,000 (2.3%)
http://www.worldstopexports.com/south-koreas-top-10-exports/2302
The Russians do not know(?) that their export, without the raw materials, is only in the order of $50 billion !
military weaponry and defense exports?
First world: SS-18s Satan.
Yes, and we are paying Russia $71 million per ride for the privilege. This is almost like Obama is baiting Putin, hoping that he will cause a conflagration. Does Obama want to cause more chaos in the to divert from his own domestic problems or to help the Islamic terrorists he has so fostered by toppling governments in North Africa?
Yes, Russia is a "regional" power with nuclear missiles capable of reaching any target on American soil...
“Putin is not financially able to project real military power beyond his immediate borders.”
Exactly. And as someone else wrote, didn’t we just have to pay this ‘regional power’ to take a ride on their rocket to get to our stuff into space?
Can our country survive the next 2 yrs under this regime? And can it then be brought back to its former greatness? I dunno.
Me too. Every time I see him or the 1st wookie on TV, I get a strong desire to hurl.
They're acting up because WE are becoming a regional power.
And we are declining because of our DECADENCE. Our leaders are indeed at fault because they have either encouraged that decadence with all the force of the state (Obama, Clinton), or have acted too slowly to reverse it (Bush), or have proposed to be nothing more than personally opposed (Romney, McCain in '08).
And this decline is not just in hard power terms but also in SOFT POWER terms. Russian citizens can access our media, and see our official announcements about the Olympics. Pravda printed McCain's op-ed verbatim...unfortunately, he decided to write about Pussy Riot instead of, say, world peace.
We're not going to get ANY stronger as a nation, by getting someone like Romney or McCain or Christie who can simply manage the decline a little bit better. We have a cancer and we need an oncologist.
As Obama is saying this, this is spin because interestingly, I had heard this “Putin is weak” line put out about last week by others. It sounds like now Obama is adopting this same argument.
What happens when you say someone is weak?
They tend to do things to try to disprove that assertion.
Why even say something so stupid?
Yes they are weak in some areas, their economy for example. As such they are going out to ensure the stability of their oil which is crucial to their economy.
Their military is plenty strong enough to take what they want.
DON’T POKE THE BEAR
Obama is doing what he does best...talk BS.
Where would the terrorists get a nuke? With help from Russia.
And yet they have other countries dancing to their tune.
ironic isn’t it
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