Putin Backs Down by Infidel753

Blogger Infidel753, who actually knows what he's talking about when it comes to the Russian/Ukraine conflict, has posted this over at his blog:

"The conflict in eastern Ukraine isn't over yet, but we already know who one of the victors is: President Obama. 

As Thomas Friedman observed this week in a widely-cited column, Putin has backed down. He has withdrawn Russian forces from the Ukrainian border and back to their bases. He declared last week that he would recognize the outcome of Ukraine's election on Sunday, though even then it was expected that the nationalist Poroshenko would win (and he did). Even as the Ukrainian government brought the full weight of its military into action to smash the "pro-Russian separatists" (actually Russian agents), killing dozens of them in the battle to recapture Donetsk airport alone, and Poroshenko declared that there will be no negotiation with "bandits", Putin has done nothing. He may manage to hold Crimea, but his effort to subvert and seize the rich industrial regions of eastern Ukraine seems to have been abandoned. 

The only plausible explanation for this dramatic change in policy is the effectiveness of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and its allies. Powerful Russian oligarchs have felt serious threats to their personal wealth, while the Russian stock market and the value of the ruble have been battered. Beyond that, Europe has taken steps to reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels, undermining not only Putin's main economic counter-weapon against the West, but also a formerly-reliable source of revenue. Much publicity has attended Russia's recent gas deal with China, a substitute market -- but the prices agreed will mean a distinctly sub-par profit. Putin was wise to conclude that pursuing the seizure of eastern Ukraine was not worth the economic costs the West had shown itself able to exact. 

It can't be coincidence, either, that just this week Obama delivered a much-commented speech at West Point declaring that, while the US must continue to lead the world and defend human rights and Western values, military force will play a smaller role in that leadership than it has done in the past, with "soft power" coming to the fore. The speech drew the expected attacks from Republicans who believe any American response to an international challenge is a failure unless it involves bombing the crap out of something -- but if American and European economic pressure can make a nation as mighty as Russia abandon military aggression, then the day of "soft power" has truly arrived."


Please go to Infidel753's blog and the links he provided in his report.

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Below is a list, with links and comments, of rightwingers on the Ukraine situation and their noninsightful opinions on how President Obama handled the situation.  They all condemn Mr. Obama's reaction as weak, pathetic, or ineffective.  But as we now know, those bloggers didn't know what they were blathering about.   All they knew was that President Obama, along with NATO allies, issued sanctions, and that was enough for them to tell each other that those sanctions would be ineffectual and accomplish nothing, all the while supporting the ex-KGB Communist against our own president.  

They weren't the only stooges doing this.  All of the conservative punditocracy and politicians chimed in with their withering condemnations of President Obama for not marching into the Crimea and shooting Putin in his nads to show the world what defenders of democracy America is.

President Obama has been vindicated and proved to be the measured, temperate and correct leader who was not willing to drag this country into a war with Russia.  

Here are the people who mocked this prudent and, in the end, best outcome for America's interests:

GONE IN 60 SECONDS

The Personification of Ineptitude

Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war

The Steak Knife and the Cupcake

Crimea River

Here are some of their wrong predictions and assertions.  President Obama, in the end, has proved them to be naive, unwise, and lacking understanding in complicated foreign policy problems -- know-nothings with opinions.

Oh Boy, Obama just announced sanctions against Russia! I bet that they are shaking in their boots.

Another slap on the Bear's wrist.

The larger point in all of this is the complete collapse of a coherent US foreign policy.

Why isn't anyone calling for Mr. Heinz Kerry to resign?

Our intelligence apparatus is too focused on spying on Americans and chasing goat herders, and our diplomatic corps is incompetent, almost criminally so.

We are off the rails. George Bush wielded a big stick and bellowed at the top of his lungs and didn't give a damn what other countries thought.

Barack Obama threw the big stick in the wood chipper and whispered sweet nothings into the world's ear.

Can we get some balance here? Is it too much to ask for some adult leadership and basic competence in our government?

HERE'S THE DEAL AS I SEE IT:

Could the WHITE HOUSE have said nothing throughout this Ukraine/Crimea situation?

I think not

Could the WHITE HOUSE have not threatened?

yes...it's the finger-wagging threats that have us looking weak right now

Ukraine: Putin pulls Russian troops back from eastern border

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Ukraine: Putin pulls Russian troops back from eastern border

Putin: Troops have pulled back from Ukraine border

Obama’s leadership is right for today