OPINION:
The origins of the many current problems with Russia and the fake Trump-Russia-collusion narrative can be traced to Barack Obama and the Clintons, who actually did collude with Vladimir Putin. Starting with the fiasco “Reset” announcement, the Edward Snowden pass to take the whole National Security Agency playbook to Moscow, the unanswered murder of Alexander Litvinenko in England, and the betrayal of Poland with the removal of promised U.S. missile defenses, the continued series of open invitations to take advantage of America dramatically emboldened Mr. Putin, who attacked Georgia and Chechnya. He cyber-attacked Estonia and other former captive nations, threatening to invade the Baltic states.
During the 2012 elections, Mr. Obama told Dimitry Medvedev that he would have “more flexibility after the election” — to which Mr. Medvedev said he would tell Mr. Putin. Two years years later, Mr. Putin seized the whole Crimea and the Donbas region. Then, Mr. Obama began to erase the red line in Syria and invited Mr. Putin to oversee the promised disarmament of chemical weapons of the Assad regime, which Mr. Putin used to increase the takeover of Syria and prop up the Iran-allied Assad regime.
And to get Mr. Putin to support the Iran nuclear deal, Mr. Obama conducted the unilateral disarmament of U.S. armed forces in the face of vast Russian weapons’ development with stolen American technology. The recent 10-year anniversary of the “Reset” marks the many concessions and collusions with Russia, which are the root of the many problems left for President Trump to deal with.
Lt. Col. DOMINIK GEORGE NARGELE
U.S. Marine Corps (retired)
Arlington, Va.
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