In response to the ongoing foreign policy crisis in Crimea, President Obama has imposed sanctions on eleven individuals from Russia and Ukraine. Reuters reported…
Obama imposes sanctions on 11 Russians, Ukrainians over Crimea
U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday slapped sanctions on two top aides to President Vladimir Putin and nine other people linked to Russia’s military incursion into Crimea as tensions increased between the two countries over the Ukraine crisis.
Facing one of his toughest foreign policy tests yet, Obama made clear the United States was prepared to impose more sanctions if Russia formally annexed Crimea in response to a weekend referendum in the region that Washington and its allies called illegitimate.
On Special Report with Bret Baier, Charles Krauthammer pointed out the ineffectiveness of Obama’s actions.
Video and transcript via National Review…
“Everybody understands that these sanctions are a joke,” Krauthammer said, explaining that real sanctions would target Russia’s energy and banking sectors as well.
“We have no leadership from the United States. All we get from this administration is air,” he said. “The real problem is that the next step would be, can be, might be, attack on the rest of Eastern Ukraine and there is nothing that Obama has done that would in any way dissuade Putin.”
Russian aides to Putin seem to agree with Krauthammer. The Washington Times reported…
“Comrade Obama, what should those who have neither accounts nor property abroad do? Have you not thought about it?” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said in a message on Twitter. He is one of the seven Russian officials directly targeted by the president in an executive order signed Monday morning. “I think the decree of the President of the United States was written by some joker.”
When Obama was running for president in 2008, he and his supporters touted the VP choice of Joe Biden as proof that an Obama administration would be capable and shrewd on foreign policy.
Now they’re being called a joke.
Funny how no one is laughing but the Russians.
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Imho, they are a “joke” for the fact that this administration has assembled the finest group of comedic talent, ever known.
Thank God for joke sanctions. It could be much worse.
This crisis started when Yanukovych rejected an inferior EU economic aid plan in favor of a better Russian one–more money and fewer restrictions.
The US/EU then engineered a violent coup d’etat to overthrow the legitimate, democratically elected government and install a junta that is opposed by nearly all ethnic Russians in the Ukraine and by many other Ukrainians as well.
Russia’s subsequent actions do not meet that standards of international law (however, the Ukrainian constitution is null and void because of the coup), but the Crimea is a long-standing part of the Russian heartland and houses one Russia’s main naval bases, so who could reasonably expect any other outcome.
The US/EU created the crisis out of arrogance and stupidity. Let’s hope they don’t precipitate a European war, too.
Krauthammer needs to get into a drug rehab program somewhere.
After the fall of the FSU – Western Europe and the US guaranteed the borders of the Ukraine to get the Ukrainians to give up their nuclear weapons.
Now that those borders have been violated – Obama freezes Putin’s NetFlex account. (true)
I guess if Putin makes moves against Poland – he better expect to do it without HBO!
“I think the decree of the President of the United States was written by some joker.”
Wait. Are the Russians using Alinsky on the Alinskyites?
“This man has courage in his soul, compassion in his heart and a spine of steel,” Biden said
I’m confused. BarackOjokaside, why do we care about this? Why would Russia go after the rest of the Ukraine? Crimea has Russia’s resources and mostly Russian people.
Why do we care? In part treaties with Ukraine where we guaranteed the borders of Ukraine, as pointed out above. Another reason may be due to fears in some circles that Putin may be trying to restore the Soviet Union which did include the Ukraine. If true the U.S. would certainly have an interest in preventing the resurrection of one of our greatest foes from the last century. Personally I’m more worried about China as a threat long term than the Russians. The Chinese hold a very large amount of our debt and should they ever turn outright hostile towards us could spell disaster for our economy.
Why should we care? Oh, I just don’t know. It’s not like they don’t have a history of invading their neighbors and killing extremely large numbers of people. It’s not like Putin is former KGB, or anything. It’s not at all reminiscent of the ambitions the Nazis had in Europe, and it’s not like Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait…
Oh….
Flexibility!
It doesn’t sound like a joke to me, but a distinct message: “Carry on!”
List for me the concrete accomplishments Krauthammer has enacted. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Krauthammer is a pundit. The man is a parrot they roll out nightly on Fox to chirp stuff about Obama.
When we get rid of Obama (not soon enough) will we be rid of Krauthammer?
Make you a deal. You list your life accomplishments and I’ll post Krauthammer’s for a side by side comparison.
Krauthammer has more concrete accomplishments than Tyrant Obama. Tyrant Obama has failed at every thing he has accomplished as president accept for lying and manipulating people into supporting him. Krauthammer has done a great job of exposing Tyrant Obama’s corruption, betrayal and lies which has benefited the entire country.