Yesterday, when I wrote about President Obama’s comment that Europe was “not a battleground between East and West,” I made the following conclusion:
Of course, Obama was able to get away with ridiculing Romney for stating that Russia is our “number one geopolitical foe” during the 2012 campaign. But if in 2014, Obama believes Europe isn’t a battleground between East and West and that the Cold War hasn’t resumed, then he probably still believes Russia isn’t our number one geopolitical foe.In which case, God help us.
So my response then continues to be what I believe today, which is: Russia’s actions are a problem. They don’t pose the number one national security threat to the United States. I continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan.
Notice the nice sleight of hand by Obama. There’s a difference between being the United States’ biggest geopolitical foe and biggest national security threat. Romney was able to make the distinction in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on March 26, 2012 (almost two years ago today) in which he asked Romney if he thought Russia was a bigger foe than Iran, China or North Korea:
Well, I’m saying in terms of a geopolitical opponent, the nation that lines up with the world’s worst actors. Of course, the greatest threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran. A nuclear North Korea is already troubling enough. But when these — these terrible actors pursue their course in the world and we go to the United Nations looking for ways to stop them, when – when Assad, for instance, is murdering his own people, we go — we go to the United Nations, and who is it that always stands up for the world’s worst actors? It is always Russia, typically with China alongside.
And — and so in terms of a geopolitical foe, a nation that’s on the Security Council, that has the heft of the Security Council and is, of course, a — a massive nuclear power, Russia is the — the geopolitical foe and — and the — and they’re — the idea that our president is — is planning on doing something with them that he’s not willing to tell the American people before the election is something I find very, very alarming.
So let’s suppose Obama’s nuclear weapon exploding Manhattan scenario comes to pass. And where exactly will that nuclear weapon come from? Chances are it will have come from Iran and if that nuclear weapon is built it will have been under the watch of the Obama Administration. Furthermore, that weapon will have been built in a facility bought and paid for by the Russians. If Russia building nuclear reactors isn’t the act of our number one geopolitical foe then what is?
But Obama doesn’t see Russia that way or is unwilling to do so. Obama views Russia’s actions in Ukraine as an inconvenient distraction for the important work of his presidency — hanging out with Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Seacrest, and Zack Galifianakis to promote Obamacare. We might as well call him Alfred E. Obama because when it comes to Russia his attitude is, “What me worry?”