U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in March that Russian President Vladimir Putin shouldn’t behave in “19th-century fashion” by invading countries and redrawing global maps, but former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday that exactly such a thing is happening.
“Putin wants to re-establish Russian greatness — not in Cold War terms,” Mr. Clinton told an audience at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s annual Fiscal Summit in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Business Insider reported. The former president then added that the Russian president was reasserting power and influence in “19th century empire terms.”
In March, just after Russia annexed Crimea, President Obama said that Vladimir Putin’s actions were “not how international law and international norms are observed in the 21st century.”
Since the annexation of Crimea by Russia, pro-Russian forces have caused instability in Eastern Ukraine, which many officials believe Vladimir Putin will use as a pretext for further power grabs in the region.
While the Obama administration has moved to place sanctions on Mr. Putin’s regime for its actions, Senate Republicans have charged that the White House has not gone far enough.
“Rather than react to events as they unfold, which has been the policy of this administration, we need to inflict more direct consequences on Russia prior to Vladimir Putin taking additional steps that will be very difficult to undo,” Sen. Bob Corker, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in April.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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