If you haven’t noticed, I consider the growing tension with Russia to be the most important political issue right now. It’s one of America’s greatest existential threats. Not existential in some Albert Camus philosophical way, rather the threat created by Russian aggression is a real and present danger to America’s very existence.
Therefore, we as a nation must demonstrate clear, consistent support for those in the international community who are committed to stopping Russian aggression by using every means within their power. This was recently articulated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin when he spoke at an Atlantic Council forum on wartime diplomacy.
Mr. Klimkin declared that shooting down the Malaysian airliner was a game-changer. He called for stronger, more consistent action from Ukraine’s allies. “We don’t need sanctions for the sake of sanctions,” he said, pointing to sanctions against Russia that are so riddled with loopholes they’ve been reduced to Swiss cheese sanctions.“Aggression is aggression!” Mr. Klimkin stated, referring to the downplaying of Russia’s actions. “The people watching know what’s at stake.”
He called for clear and consistent international support for Ukraine’s pledge to stop the Russian aggression. Numerous times, he called on allies to be “clear” and “consistent” about their support. Yet the only thing clear about America’s support is that President Obama will not be consistent. Russia’s violation of the nuclear arms treaty can be traced back to 2009, according to recent reports. Was our president was so uninformed about foreign intelligence that he could not see the brewing Russian hostility?
Why then, in a 2012 debate with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, did Mr. Obama dismiss the claim that Russia was our greatest “geopolitical foe”? Even worse, why did he do it with an over-used childish gag line? “The 80s called. They want their foreign policy back,” chided our commander-in-chief.
Had he used more conscientious words, our president would have lent credibility to his position that Russia is no longer a threat. At the very least, more deliberate words would have signaled to the international community that we are paying attention.
Instead, he signaled not only that the world’s superpower was looking the other way, but also that we had no intention of turning our head in that direction.
Given the litany of submissive actions toward Russia, we can conclude that Mr. Obama is not willing to do what should be done, what Mr. Klimkin has asked of us.
So, what can we do?
We as a nation need to demonstrate to the world that you can’t judge a book by its cover; or in this case, a nation by its leader. We need to prove that there is still fight left in us regardless of what our president might portray.
Mr. Obama has arrogantly positioned himself above the checks and balances in our Constitution. Almost boasting that he is untouchable, he vowed to continue to slap around congressional authority with the power of his pen.
In a Svengali-like statement, Mr. Obama declared there was not a smidgen of corruption in the IRS. He fully expected the American public to take his word at face value and blindly ignore the mounting evidence proving just the opposite; that there is an alarming amount of corruption in the IRS and that it doesn’t stop there.
The world is witnessing America fall prey to domestic abuse at the hands of our president. They’re watching to see just how much of a victim we will let ourselves become.
Do we love our country enough to put our political differences aside and in a unified voice demand that our leaders adhere to our Constitution? Will we as an electorate stand with House Speaker John Boehner as he fights back against the abuse of executive power? Will we join in the outcry for a special prosecutor to investigate just how far the IRS corruption extends?
Bottomline: If we as a nation respond forcefully to the internal corruption and constitutional abuse at home, it will signal to the world that we are still a global force, and that American support actually means something.
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