Despite all the rhetoric about American weakness when it comes to Crimea, Russia has been paying a steep price for its behavior.
After Russia’s occupation and annexation of the Crimean portion of Ukraine a lot of American politicians decided to make some political hay by claiming that the whole thing was the product of presidential “weakness” or that the whole thing was caused by Obama’s decision not to bomb Syria last year.
Some of this is probably just good old fashioned Washington partisanship, something went wrong so it must be the President’s fault and if the party not in the White House loves to point this out. And then some of it just seems to be a product of American hubris. Lots of pundits seem to assume that everything in the world revolves around the United States, so any foreign development that is less than optimal must, in the end, have been caused by the President. Sometimes this is true; the disaster that was the Iraq War very much was President Bush’s fault, but sometimes it’s just isn’t. An airplane in Asia disappearing is pretty sad, but it’s not like it was President Obama’s fault. The same thing could be said for a lot of things that presidents get the credit, or blame, for.
In fact, the ongoing crisis in Ukraine can be blamed on many things that don’t have much to do with The United States at all. For eample the legacy of various wars and revolutions in the 20th Century, European nationalism, or the general tendency of all great powers to use force in areas they consider their own “back yards.” But the idea that “weakness” somehow caused the most recent developments in Ukraine is just down right absurd. Since no administration in their right mind would threaten war with Russia over the Crimea, and nobody in the mainstream of American politics is calling for such a war, then any idea that more “toughness” or “resolve” would have stopped Russian actions in Crimea is almost self-refuting. Or to think about it another way, if “resolve” and “toughness” work so well, why wasn’t the tougher Bush administration able to stop Russia from invading Georgia in 2008?
But doesn’t that mean that Putin is still getting away with murder when it comes to Ukraine? Well he’s not facing nuclear war, but problems are starting to mount. While President Obama might not be bombing Moscow or sending Marines into Crimea the sanctions program instituted by the US and European Union is having a pretty measurable effect. As The Los Angeles Times recently reported the Russian economy (never very good to begin with) has suffered a pretty significant blow:
Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region last month and the instability it created in Russian financial markets were cited by government officials for record capital flight and sharply downgraded growth forecasts for the country. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that instead of projected 2.5% growth this year, Russia’s economy might show no growth at all…
U.S. and European sanctions to punish Russia for occupying and annexing Crimea have so far targeted only a few dozen officials and businessmen. But the prospect of broader penalties, such as a Western boycott of Russian oil and gas, have scared investors into cashing out their ruble-denominated assets for hard currency and taking their money abroad.
That doesn’t automatically translate into Putin reversing himself over Crimea anytime soon. After all autocrats are very good and surviving bad economic times compared to democratically elected leaders, and times have been a lot worse economically speaking in Russia’s recent past. But the Obama Administrations policies are having a measurable and large effect, certainly one bigger than giving another warmed over version of that “Evil Empire” speech.
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At end of the day, what does missiles in Turkey and Cuba 50 years ago have to do with the Russian encroachment across the sovereign borders of the Ukraine today. Yes Kennedy made a deal with Khruschev to keep the Russian missiles out of Cuba. That is well known. Congratulations you get a gold star. In some respects you make my point, Putin has so little respect for Obama, Obama can’t even negotiate with Putin.
@Jameseq I guess we should just throw up our arms and let Putin rebuild the Soviet Bloc. Sorry, I don’t think that way. Freedom is not free. Had Obama been as aware of the Russian threat as Romney was the world might not find itself in the circumstances it does now. The leadership vacuum that Obama has created has been filled by Putin and he will do what he wants because of Obama is a weak, impotent, ineffective and a disgrace to this country’s history. I am not yet willing to concede that nothing can be done. Your description of… Read more »
the eu has different take about sanctions on russian oil and gas. as i said in the paul blest article, the eu is war-averse on this issue. i cant see us in the eu imposing strong sanctions on russia. what i see in the discussions n interviews on dw and france24 tv channels are that eu politicians are thinking, ‘no, we are not to impose strong sanctions on oil and gas’ 30% of eu heating gas comes from russia, similar figure for oil. 1. the country called ‘the city of london’ (may as well be its own city state) would… Read more »
You sound like you are happy that Russia is disrespecting foreign borders and challenging America’s position in the world. Despite all the damage Obama has done I suspect we will see a swing of the pendulum back to the right in much the same way we saw what happened when Ronald Reagan replaced Jimmy Carter as president. Because of the useless president we elected we are going through some difficulty, but we will bounce back, because we are the greatest nation the world has ever known. I believe in American Exceptionalism and after Obama leaves office you will see it… Read more »
You sound like you are happy that Russia is disrespecting foreign borders and challenging America’s position in the world.
of course my post would sound like that to you, you want to put troops in ukraine (how would the usa act if russia put troops in mexico). not even the american conservatives on the powerblog are thinking that yr course of action is wise
youre a funny fellow
Its funny that you say that, a NBC news story that came out today is reporting that the US is considering doing joint military exercises with the Poles and the Estonians; http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/u-s-considers-deploying-soldiers-exercises-europe-n85026 So it is Ok for Russia to amass their troops on the border with Ukraine in a menacing fashiong, but it is not Ok for the US to come to the defensive aide of the Ukraine and I am was talking about most of the troops being put their in a support role to the Ukraine military. If we had just disregarded the sovereign borders of Mexico and… Read more »
Are you insulting me by saying I am a “funny fellow”? Can I return insult or will my post be deleted. GMP” the conversation that is being had by only people we choose to participate in the conversation”
you already did insult me with this
You sound like you are happy that Russia is disrespecting foreign borders
as to cuban missiles, what missiles were in turkey?
if russian started to deploy troops in mexico. the usa would move and occupy the country before they could fully deploy. as russia would do, if usa troops started to appear in ukraine.
your policy thinking has gifted putin this opportunity to birch you and so us with you, at his leisure, while we’re strapped over a barrel with our trousers around our ankles.
@Jameseq as to cuban missiles, what missiles were in turkey? – See more at: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/jka-is-russia-paying-a-price-for-crimea/#sthash.tiLWdX0C.dpuf The missles were not ICBMs within 90 miles of the Russian border as the Cuban missles would have been had Kennedy not created a naval blockade from them coming in. We were protecting a NATO ally and the Turks had requested them. if russian started to deploy troops in mexico. the usa would move and occupy the country before they could fully deploy. as russia would do, if usa troops started to appear in ukraine. – See more at: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/jka-is-russia-paying-a-price-for-crimea/#sthash.tiLWdX0C.dpuf The Russians took the provocative… Read more »
another one of your confused arguments. it was the range of the jupiter’s that was the more important factor, not how close they were to russia prime’s or soviet borders. that they could hit russia prime was the more important consideration. and thats why the jupiters in europe were removed in exchange for the russians removing the nukes from cuba. they were equivalent threats to america prime and russia prime. this is just basic knowledge, and again your lack of basic insight is not surprising. The truth is that John and Robert Kennedy struck a secret deal with the Soviets,… Read more »
to further add for those reading, at the time the americans had jupiters placed that could hit soviet territory, or russia prime. soviet missiles however could not hit america prime. so that is why the soviets wanted to place nukes in cuba. to balance the threat levels.
“Don’t personally attack anyone—whether it’s their grammar, their intelligence, their name, or anything else. You can disagree with their viewpoint but don’t go after the individual.”
The above is Guideline #2 in your Good Men Project Commenting Policy. Some people, like me, might consider your “funny fellow” comment to violate that guideline — that “anything else” is rather broad– I don’t expect the editors or publisher here will do anything about it though. My comments are held in generally low regard, though I think I strictly adhere to the guidelines.
Romney foresaw the Russian threat and Obama did not. In fact Obama ridiculed Romney for having a “1980’s” foreign policy. Romney would have done more to develop our own oil and gas supplies so that if we needed to isolate the Russians economically we could do so by supplying the Europeans with the oil and gas they would lose by cutting off relations with the Russians. Obama hasn’t done that so the Europeans remain dependent on Russian oil and gas and thus unwilling to make the kind of commitment to economic isolation of Russia that is necessary to effectuate change… Read more »
It would be nice if you could outline some other policies that you think would work better. As I see it global thermonuclear war wouldn’t make things better, but if you have another interpretation on this feel free to fire away! (Uh not literally). But as I see it’s not clear that Mitt Romney would make things better because he gave some speech or something.
“In fact, the ongoing crisis in Ukraine can be blamed on many things that don’t have much to do with The United States at all. For eample the legacy of various wars and revolutions in the 20th Century, European nationalism, or the general tendency of all great powers to use force in areas they consider their own “back yards.” – See more at: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/jka-is-russia-paying-a-price-for-crimea/#sthash.dLS0Akvy.dpuf We are the world’s strongest democracy. Our friends count on us to come to their aide when despots disregard sovereign borders and takeover their land and people. Putin’s disregard of a neighboring states borders is a… Read more »
Russia is paying a steep price for annexing Crimea? Really? What price? A few Russian Oligarchs had their Las Vegas vacation privileges taken away. Do you really think Putin or the Russian Oligarchy has suffered at all? The Russian people may have suffered somewhat, but do you really think Putin gives a rat’s behind about that? His stated goal is to rebuild the Soviet Bloc, btw, the Soviet economy was nothing to write home about either. Putin is systematically undoing all the great work that Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul did bringing down the Soviet empire and Barrack Obama… Read more »