Community Corner
OBAMA AND PUTIN AND FOREIGN POLICY: IT'S APPLES AND RAISINS
Obama and Putin are making foreign policy decisions with very different allegiances.
I have heard political pundits, critics, and editorials that comment on how Putin is outwitting Obama on Foreign Policy decision...how he is getting the upper hand and making us look silly by taking a clear stand in Syria and with regard to ISIS....
When I hear these comments I am surprised that there is a large omission to the discussion....You cannot compare Putin’s priorities and interests in Foreign Policy with Obama’s. It is quite easy for Putin to take a stand...his ONLY consideration is whether it is good for Russia (or his own power play)...he has NO humanitarian concerns for any other country or it’s citizens...he has no moral compass, he is not bound by honesty or compassion...therefore, with Putin, decisions are less conflicted and much more simple. Integrity is not important. Russia does nothing for the world...it only does for Russia...
President Obama has many more things to consider when taking a foreign policy position. It would be easy (and very Russian) to just ignore the fact that Assad butchers his own citizens ...he punishes anyone who opposes his totalitarian regime. He gases his own people. He is a despot. To aid Assad in the fight against ISIS would certainly be a simple decision for Obama if the United States didn’t have a conscience, if the United States was just thinking of it’s own issues.....if we didn’t stand up for the victims of totalitarian regimes. We cannot ignore this madness...and our government and President cannot make decisions without weighing the suffering of innocent people....the United States, unlike Russia...stands for Freedom. Russia stands for Russia.
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It may be true that Obama will decide to stand with Russia and Syria in the fight against ISIS...if so, it will be with a heavy heart and a surrender to the notion that we can’t always make heroic and consistent and principled decisions in this region of the world....sadly, it is often the least damaging of two damaging decisions.
It’s not always as that simple....having a conscience comes at a price.
