Posted on 02/08/2016 6:23:40 AM PST by DeathBeforeDishonor1
(CNN)Russian President Vladimir Putin has told a German newspaper he did not mean to scare Chancellor Angela Merkel when he brought his pet Labrador in to meet her during an infamous press conference nine years ago.
Merkel, reportedly fearful of dogs since one attacked her in 1995, was photographed looking distinctly uncomfortable when Putin brought his large black Labrador Koni into a meeting at his summer residence in Sochi, Russia, in January 2007.
The Russian leader appeared to smirk as he watched his pet approach his uneasy VIP guest.
Now, years on, Putin has told German newspaper Bild he had no intention of intimidating Merkel.
"I wanted to do something nice for her," he told the newspaper, in an interview published Monday.
"When I found out that she doesn't like dogs, of course I apologized."
Putin's treatment of Merkel, in office for less than two years at the time, reportedly rankled the German press corps.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
bump
Sorry, but Frau Merkel is doing a lot more damage to Europe than Putin could ever dream of.
Look up “Soft power revolution”.
HA! your butt. Obama is about the best thing that ever happened to those seeking to restore the Russian empire. He gave away the store on missile defense and nukes (New START nuke deal and the Obama-Putin Iran nuke deal). That plus he slashed our military, obviously a huge advantage to the Russians. And he didn't do these things out of nativity or "incompetence". He did it DELIBERATELY, because he comes from a long line of people who very devoted supporters of the Soviet Union. He was very much on the side of the Soviets while in college during the Reagan years.
Appeasement: From ObamaCare to recess appointments, honoring the Constitution has not been an administration hallmark. But when it comes to betraying secrets to mollify the Russians, it becomes a document the president hides behind.
It was bad enough that the 2012 defense authorization bill signed by President Obama set America on a downward spiral of military mediocrity.
He also issued a signing statement, something he once opposed, saying that language in the bill aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on the U.S. Standard Missile-3 - linchpin of our missile defense - might impinge on his constitutional foreign-policy authority.
Section 1227 of the defense law prohibits spending any funds that would be used to give Russian officials access to sensitive missile-defense technology as part of a cooperation agreement without first sending Congress a report identifying the specific secrets, how they'd be used and steps to protect the data from compromise.
The president is required to certify that any technology shared will not be passed on to third parties such as China, North Korea or Iran, that the Russians will not use transferred secrets to develop countermeasures and that the Russians are reciprocating in sharing missile-defense technology. ..."
"In his signing statement, Obama said he would treat these legal restrictions as 'non-binding' and that 'my administration will also interpret and implement section 1244 (sic) in a manner that does not interfere with the president's constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and avoids the undue disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications.'
Betraying our secrets is easy for a president who betrayed allies Poland and the Czech Republic to placate Moscow.
Poland was to host ground-based interceptors such as those we've deployed in California and Alaska, with missile-tracking radar deployed in the Czech Republic.
Obama pulled the plug when Moscow objected. Never mind, he said, we have a better approach: a four-phase plan that calls for using three versions of the Navy's Standard SM-3 interceptor missile that forms the backbone of its Aegis missile-defense system.
The fourth phase consists of a missile still on the drawing board scheduled for deployment by 2020, a version of the SM-3 called the Block IIB. It would intercept hostile missiles in the "early intercept" phase before an enemy missile could release its warheads and decoys. The Russians want the SM-3's secrets, and Obama appears to be willing to turn them over.
The president wants to save the New Start Treaty, which the Russians have threatened to abandon if we try to fully implement President Reagan's dream of defeating a nuclear missile attack.
Russia has unilaterally asserted that any qualitative or quantitative improvement in U.S. missile defenses would be grounds for withdrawal from the treaty.
Read More At Investor's Business Daily:
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/010912-597158-obama-gives-russia-missile-defense-secrets.htm#ixzz3jXmMbVwY
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March 2012...
"Obama was talking with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when neither of them realized that their conversation was being picked up by microphones. Here is what they said:
Obama: "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it's important for him to give me space."
Medvedev: "Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ..."
Obama: "This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility."
Medvedev: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir."
"This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." That statement tells us much about the president's mindset.
The specific mention of missile defense is worrisome enough. Mr. Obama has retreated from the missile defense plan that was negotiated with European allies during the George W. Bush administration. Apparently, he is signaling Moscow that he intends to retreat further. The clear implication from the president's comments is that he cannot tell the American people before the election what he plans to do after the election.
In addition, there is the phrase "on all these issues," implying more is at stake than just missile defense."
Article: Obama plans double cross on missile defense
When it comes to keeping America safe, we shouldn't be too flexible:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/29/obama-plans-double-cross-on-missile-defense/print/
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Russia has stepped up its military maneuvers to a level unseen since the height of the Cold War, according to a new report released by NATO Thursday.
Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance's secretary general and author of the report, noted that Moscow has conducted at least 18 large-scale exercises over the past three years, "some of which have involved more than 100,000 troops."
Those exercises included several simulated nuclear attacks against NATO allies and partner nations ..."
Okay, now I know you're joking.
Maybe bringing in the lab was the whole point. He knew Merkel was terrified of dogs, so he deliberately brought in the dog he knew would not be a terror to any normal person, but would be to Merkel.
He knew exactly what he was doing there.
But she's doing it more out of liberal naivety/dopiness. KGB/FSB Putin is deliberately trying to collapse the economic systems there and elsewhere and create a situation of instability and chaos in order to more easily take those countries, many of which are former Soviet states.
I engaged in no such generalities. I observed a similar negotiating tactic; the use of a known psychological weakness on the part of an opponent to gain a negotiating advantage. Hitler did that, Putin appears to have done the same. And this is a way you play the game of international diplomacy, which a serious game played by adults for very high stakes. You use every advantage you can.
If you want to see more to it than that, you go right ahead.
Obama Pledges Cuts in Missile Defense, Space, and Nuclear Weapons Programs
February 29, 2008 :: News
MissileThreat.com
A video has surfaced of Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama talking on his plans for strategic issues such as nuclear weapons and missile defense.
The full text from the video, as released, reads as follows:
Thanks so much for the Caucus4Priorities, for the great work you've been doing. As president, I will end misguided defense policies and stand with Caucus4Priorities in fighting special interests in Washington.
First, I'll stop spending $9 billion a month in Iraq. I'm the only major candidate who opposed this war from the beginning. And as president I will end it.[i.e. not win it]
Second, I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending.
I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems.
I will not weaponize space.
I will slow our development of future combat systems.
And I will institute an independent "Defense Priorities Board" to ensure that the Quadrennial Defense Review is not used to justify unnecessary spending.
Third, I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal, I will not develop new nuclear weapons; I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material; and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert, and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals.
You know where I stand. I've fought for open, ethical and accountable government my entire public life. I don't switch positions or make promises that can't be kept. I don't posture on defense policy and I don't take money from federal lobbyists for powerful defense contractors. As president, my sole priority for defense spending will be protecting the American people. Thanks so much.
Article: Obama Pledges Cuts in Missile Defense, Space, and Nuclear Weapons Programs:
http://web.archive.org/web/20090412030633/http://missilethreat.com/archives/id.7086/detail.asp
"MissileThreat.com is a project of The Claremont Institute devoted to understanding and promoting the requirements for the strategic defense of the United States."
That’s it pretty much
Just like the US, Russian intelligence knows the likes and dislikes of every leader. Putin knew exactly what he was doing.
She’s scared of a Lab but she embraces the rapeugees. Whats wrong with that picture?
If you were Putin and knew Obama and even more then the American public does about him, wouldnt you surround him with spies, armed militia and everything else. I would.
It has nothing to do with taking over America or destroying it...its Obama were talking about.
Now that, my friend, is a “good ‘un”! She would have no reason to be afraid of his poodle Obama - no one else is.
“Ukus suku!”
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