The Russian Reset

 

 

Hey! This stupid button seems to be broken! When I hit it, things get only worse!

Truthfully, I remember it like it was only yesterday. Candidate Obama, who proudly carried around his paper thin resume, told many of the "sheeple" in our fair land that Bush had screwed things up all over the world. In particular, he had really screwed it up with Putin. Our once "hugs and kisses" relationship with the Russians had now turned frosty, and it was all the fault of GW. "No worries though", said the community organizer from Chicago, "just let me in the door of Air Force One and I will hit the reset button with Russia."

Fast forward to today. The reset button has been hit alright, and where are we? Back to the future we are. Back to the cold war. A few days ago, a spokesman for the Kremlin said Russia could turn America into "radioactive ash". Really? Are we going to have to teach our kids how to hide under their desks like I did when I was a kid? I know, I know - Russia invaded Georgia when Bush was President. Maybe Mitt was right when in one of the debates he told Barry that Russia was our biggest international challenge. He did have a point. It was first Georgia, now Crimea, next Poland?

Putin may be a thug and a bully, but he ain't stupid. He knows where the cards are on the table. Our current President has recently said "I have a phone, and a pen, and know how to use them." Putin on the other hand may have said, "I have lots of gas and oil, and a 800,000 man Army, and I know how to use them."

So what can the West do to show Putin we are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore? Not too much. As long as Russia has China has a trading partner, and a oil dependent Euro Zone right next door, he is holding a good hand. Yesterday, a pundit on the Left said, "If sanctions don't work, we will supply arms to Ukraine." Is that another reset? Taking us one step closer to a war with Russia? Reagan kept us out of war with Russia by using a strategy called "peace through strength". We are in his current pickle because as our current strategy of "weakness through debt and disarming" is not working.

Where do we go from here? Hard to say. Most experts agree that Crimea is lost - now part of the new USSR. Will Putin stop there? Again, hard to say. What I will say is this - nature, and the world, abhor vacuums. When the strong stop being strong, the evil doers and the tyrants start to roam free. The best thing we can do is follow Reagan's playbook. Stop the defense cuts. Install the missile defense shield in Poland. Bring back a more modern and robust version of SDI. Reagan let his actions do his talking - our current guy talks, and talks and then writes a very angry letter.