DON’T CRIFORMEA VLADIMIR PUTIN

Don’t Criformea Vladimir Putin

Watching wall to wall news coverage last week of The Crisis in Ukraine has been non-stop. Since the first Russian helicopter crossed the Ukranian border apparently the dropping of barrel bombs on innocent citizens in Syria by its own government has ceased, so has it’s program of mass starvation, beheadings by Islamist extremists Al-Qaeda can’t stomach, devastation of whole cities and deaths of countless children all ended the moment the drama in Crimea commenced.

Apparently legally there is little we can do, because of trade considerations there is little the Europeans will do, and in the wake of the disclosure of President Obama’s NSA surveillance program of Angela Merkel’s cell phone and other European leaders and their citizens there is little to no leverage President Obama can exert So what’s the end game?

It is no secret that the exemplar of Presidencies for Obama is John Kennedys. When he walks by Aaron Shikler’s portrait of the 35th president that hangs in Entrance Hall in the White House during troubling periods he wonders what would JFK do. The last time we faced Russia on a path to brinkmanship was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. There Kruschev’s missiles were parked on our door step and had to be removed. This time the crisis is on Putin’s doorstep. There are no nuclear missiles involved but whenever the Americans and Russians go to dance they are never far away.
Between the 2 superpowers the only pathway to end a crisis is through negotiations. Bravura is good for posturing but in the end it’s negotiations. Like Kennedy dealing with Kruschev, paramount is the 2 leaders walking away from negotiations saving face, each one at least having the appearance if not actually gaining something for their country.
Obama has to be thinking that Crimea is predominately Russian, hell, it used to be part of Russia, if our only option with teeth is military action, which isn’t an option, we lack strong backing by European allies; we know Putin is not Hitler or Stalin, he doesn’t want to own other countries, (the Soviet Union proved it’s way too costly and not worth the effort) therefore Obama is not Chamberlain, we let Russia have Crimea with assurances from Putin that there will be no more meddling, the remaining citizens of Ukraine now consist of a larger Western tilt giving the country more flexibility even holding out the possibility of one day joining the NATO alliance, but if Obama is shrewd he can use this opportunity to go even further.
Putin wins the big prize, Crimea, but to maximize the West’s gains we get irreversible assurances from Putin that he will throw the full weight of the Russian government behind dismantling and shipping out all Syrian chemical weapons and Syrian negotiations resume with the understanding that Bashar al-Assad step down as leader of the Syrian government and the interim Iranian nuclear agreement is fully enforced.
Bravura and posturing for now on our part is all good, also time for cool heads to prevail is a plus but use the mainstream international media to keep the heat on Russia and in the end the Crimean’s and Putin get all that they want and a major step towards Middle Eastern peace that is so desperately needed right now is attained.
Crimea is certainly not the first land grab by a more powerful neighbor but if we could make it the last, at least for a while, it might very well be worth it.

THE BROTHER IN THE WHITE HOUSE

In tonight’s State Of The Union Speech President Obama is expected to talk about income inequality, recognition of violence against women and strengthening the middle class. Our president remains focused on the 3 most important issues that have required national attention throughout his 2 terms; and for that he deserves kudos from every political pundit that cares about the welfare of our nation. But what you won’t hear is problems plaguing the inner city, care for the poor, push back on a military/intelligence industry that still seizes the atmosphere of terror and in the process creating clairvoyants out of George Orwell, Dr. Strangelove and President Eisenhower. He was slow to same sex marriage and gun control until forces out of his control forced his hand, and he still drags his feet on medicinal and legalization of marijuana. Why? This is the big liberal the Republican opposition keeps hammering at? Wouldn’t you think Obama, a community organizer and constitutional law professor from the University of Chicago and the first African American President would take these issues on by his own initiative?

Back In 2005 I worked on a governor’s race and the candidate asked then Senator Barack Obama who was still, if David Axelrod is to be believed, at least a year away from deciding whether to run for President, to campaign for him. Sticking to the political playbook and wanting to energize the base the campaign scheduled the young up and coming Democratic star to appear in African American neighborhoods. But something Obama said in a candid moment before his presidential candidate phase began stuck with me. He expressed lament that the campaign limited him to minority audiences. To quote him he said “where are the white folk at?”

One could say that he was already thinking about establishing a rapport with voters in a swing state but I took it as more. He seemed to be exhibiting a racial consciousness that if you read his 2 books, “Dreams of my Father” and “The Audacity of Hope” carried the perception of race as a consistent theme. He wanted to be Senator Barack Obama not the black senator.

Obama entered the White House exclaiming that his face and name didn’t fit the profile of Mt. Rushmore, which until now with the exception of 1 catholic, consisted of members made up entirely from protestant, white man stock. Of this he was keenly aware; in fact it influenced his actions, to carefully avoid appearing to be the brother in the White House, thus the absence of an urban agenda.

Until Newtown he failed to take on the NRA which has the largest following among white men residing far from our cities. He didn’t want to tackle minority inequality, including same sex marriage until his vice president inadvertently forced his hand. If he didn’t “come out” in an upcoming reelection campaign he risked possibly alienating himself from his base. Since January of 2009 has anybody in DC uttered the 2 words “slave reparations”? When the agenda came down to military brass or risking a possible terrorist attack, despite his constitutional acumen, he weighed his decisions heavily towards his joint chiefs and CIA Director, not unlike his predecessor.
To be President Barack Obama is to craft a narrative that cleanses the atmosphere of race, excluding an appreciation of Al Green.

To flip the coin it is often written that the critics of Obama may be motivated by racism. While there is no doubt that Secret Service has been inundated with racist threats throughout Obamas presidency, history has to be our guide here.

It’s been well documented that FDR and John Kennedy were hated by huge swaths of the country to the point where some of the vitriol bordered on violent, President Jimmy Carter was called the worst president (being a Ted Kennedy Democrat they may have something there), Mike Dukakis was called the worst candidate, Bill Clinton was impeached and his government briefly shut down, Al Gore was called the most liberal candidate ever, until John Kerry was nominated and in 2007, 2008 Hillary Clinton’s possible presidency was to be avoided at all costs even if it meant electing a long shot young Illinois senator of African American descent; you get my drift here there’s an obvious pattern. So unless we are willing to condemn the critics from the right as anti-Catholic, anti-peanut farmer, anti-Greek, anti-prodigal son, anti- war hero or anti-women (well….that’s another column) I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the President’s critics on the right and just recognize it as business as usual.