Vladimir Putin vs. President Barack Obama

Vladimir Putin is projecting Russian power across the world stage exactly as the former KGB operative was trained to do.  The Cold War never ended, just the tactics and technology have changed as we roll into 2014 and beyond.

The United States military led by President Ronald Reagan won round 1 of the U.S. / Russian cold war.  Today, Communist Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently had six significant victories every American must be aware of.

This is the sad story of the KGB Operative chess player versus our ill equipped community organizer — and the chickens are coming home to roost.

Communist Russia’s Objective

The Russians are expanding their presence in the high seas and upgrading their naval nuclear capabilities with the objective of controlling naval bases outside of their shorelines.  Russia currently has naval bases in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol in the Black Sea.  According to Russia Today, June 26, 2013, the Syrian port of Tartus in the Mediterranean Sea is still an active Russian naval facility.  There are recent intelligence reports the Russians have vacated the Port of Tartus but is by no means a permanent situation.

“The future overseas naval bases, like the one is Sevastopol, are not being referred to as “naval bases” by Russian officials, but by other terms. Moscow is calling them “supply points” or “bases for naval logistics” to make them sound far less threatening. The nomenclature does not really matter. The functions of these naval facilities, however, are for Putin’s strategic military purposes.

Vladimir Putin is shifting the Russian naval fleet into a nuclear capable offensive attack force which should be fully operational by 2020.  The commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Karakayev, said that Russia’s inter-continental ballistic missiles would become “invisible” in the near future.  ‘Invisible’ means submarines with nuclear warhead delivery capabilities.

Russian President Putin’s Victories

#1 Egypt

President Obama made a historical tactical error ordering the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in favor of the International terrorist group, The Muslim Brotherhood, and its leader Mohammad Morsi as ordered by Hillary Clinton.

On October 6, 1981,  Gamaa al-Islamiyya, a franchise of The Muslim Brotherhood, assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.  Hosni Mubarak, a declared and proven friend of America went after The Muslim Brotherhood terrorists with an iron fist.

President Obama backed the same Muslim Brotherhood terrorists who murdered Anwar Sadat back in 1981. Putin has not forgotten that Anwar Sadat was the Egyptian leader who canceled the Soviet’s Navy right to use Egyptian ports over 50 years ago in favor of the USA.

As a result of President Obama’s foreign policy blunders in Egypt,  the Russian Navy will likely again have a ‘supply station’ in Egypt’s warm water ports.  The current Egyptian government is very public against President Obama and running to the side of Vladimir Putin.

#2 Syria

The President of Syria, Bashar Assad, had been an important partner of the United States for decades.  President Obama’s sparked a Sunni / Shia Muslim civil war and publicly called for Bashar Assad to step down or face the consequences if he overstepped his famous red line.

Bashar Assad dismissed Mr. Obama’s empty threats and chose to fight Al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Shariah, and the Muslim Brotherhood rebels who had Obama’s support.

President Obama laid down the red line saying American forces will attack Assad if he used chemical weapons.  Chemical weapons were used, Mr. Obama starts the countdown to attack and embroiling the US into another Middle East Conflict.  President Obama put himself into a position where his words of war caught up with him and he desperately needed a way out and not have to bomb Damascus.

In comes KGB statecraft expert Vladimir Putin to save our community organizer President Obama at his weakest moment.  Putin packaged a deal to defuse the situation and broker a chemical weapon free zone deal between the United States and Syria.  Mr. Obama hands Putin a unprecedented public relations victory as peacemaker.    Putin’s regional influence grows as  President Obama again shames America with another failure of world diplomacy that may well take decades to recover from, if ever.

The view from 30,000 feet is that Putin established Russia’s foreign policy influence on the world stage for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.  President Obama has woken up a hungry Russian sleeping bear that is feeding on his failures and missteps.  Analysts have described this situation as Vladimir Putin playing chess while Mr. Obama plays checkers.

#3 The Asian Pivot

The Asian Pivot is President Obama’s policy of shifting our diplomatic, security, and economic attentions from Europe and the Middle East to the rising powers in the Pacific.  I agree with President Obama the Asian Pivot will have long term benefits for the United States for years to come.

The Asian Pivot for Vladimir Putin is to sell more oil to the East and establish ports for the Russian Navy.

President Obama however, is viewed by China officials as losing all influence in strengthening America’s presence in China.   Obama’s State Department admittedly has no high ranking individuals who are China experts.  Mr. Obama sent his VP Joe Biden to save the Asian Pivot and our relationship with China.  Many experts question Joe Biden’s track record of guffaws, and his unusual temperament not being compatible with the Asian cultures formalism in matters of diplomacy.

Putin, on the other hand,  is exploiting the Far East’s thirst for Russian oil and natural gas.  Putin knows that Vietnam is the key pivot point of Southeast Asia.  Vietnam occupies key shorelines connecting the Strait of Malacca with NE Asia and is accessible by sea to the Russian Federations Far East Ports.

The Asian Pivot will not interest the mainstream press because what are they going to say.  Bumbling Joe Biden was sent by President Obama to exert American influence in China as a direct counter to Russia’s victories in the Far East.

While President Obama falters, Vladimir Putin is moving his chess pieces to further Russia’s naval reach and dominance.

Make no mistake about it – Putin is playing a serious geopolitical game here and America better wake up and quick hoping it will not be too late.

#4 President Obama Buys Russian Helicopters

The Moscow Times reports President Obama authorized the purchase of 68 Mi-17 armed helicopters from Rosoboronexport at a cost of more than $1 Billion and then donating said helicopters to the Afghans.

The Rosoboronexport agency chief executive, Sergei Chemezov, is a long time confidant of Putin.  President Obama recently terminated penalties and sanctions against Rosoboronexport which were initiated by President Bush in 2006 for selling sensitive intelligence to Iran and Syria.

Why would the President of the United States of America appease the Russians and get nothing in return?

“There was no redeeming value, no redeeming feature to this sale,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “An inferior product bought with American taxpayer money from a Russian export agency that was unconscionably selling to Assad. If you made it up, no one would believe it.”

#5 Edward Snowden Exposes American Weakness

Edward Snowden is the U.S. traitor who exposed classified secrets of our government to the Chinese and Russians. When the FBI was hot on Snowden’s trail he was welcomed into the open arms of Vladimir Putin with the help of the Communist Chinese.

Vladimir Putin’s defying President Obama’s ineffectual blustering demands for the return of Edward Snowden is embarrassing enough but right when you think it couldn’t get worse.   We learned that our ‘allies’ in the Asian Pivot, Hong Kong & China, facilitated Edward Snowden’s escape into Putin’s Russian bear hug.

Law enforcement professionals will tell you that China’s actions in the Snowden treason affair  is a ‘Clue’ on how little they fear President Obama and the will of the American people.  The ‘Clue’ China exposed for anyone who was looking, is that they may appear aligned with the West but China’s respect for Putin and the Russians is greater.

Based on these ‘Clues’ I will make the prediction America’s influence in the Far East will deteriorate even further unless American policy makers reverse our current direction of appeasement in the world of geopolitical statecraft.

#6 Vladimir V. Putin’s NY Times Op-Ed 

Putin said, “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.”

“There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.”

These words coming from that KGB Communist operative Vladimir Putin is disrespectful to America.  Not so much in the words themselves but the fact he knows there will be no repercussions from the Obama Administration.

Conclusion

Russia and the United States will always be enemies.  Warriors throughout time eternal have respect for their adversaries if they show courage, strength, and determination on the battlefield.  It is on the battlefield or the negotiating table where respect is either earned or lost.

Der Spiegel writes, “Putin’s strength is only relative because it feeds on the weakness of the West.”  It brings me great shame to conclude that on the world stage President Obama is weak and clownish, while Vladimir Putin projects strength and leadership.

Out of President Obama’s weakness our adversaries will feel emboldened to strike making the world a much more dangerous place.

In Vladimir Putin’s NY Times Op-Ed he came across as an adversary who felt sorry for the United States and longs for the days past when America was a strong and respected.  If Putin had any fear of President Obama he would not have been embarrassing him in such a public fashion as he did in his NYTimes op-ed.

Mr. Putin knows America and Russia have a common enemy with Islamic Jihad.  It doesn’t matter if the Islamic threat comes from Chechnya, Iran, or The Muslim Brotherhood.  The Islamic terrorists of the world operate under hundreds of different names but all fight for a central Caliphate.  If Islamic Iran develops a nuclear capability and the the missile systems to deliver their deadly payloads, it will alter the geopolitical landscape of the world.  A nuclear Iran will threaten both Communist Russia and the United States of America.

Putin knows the day will come when America and Russia will have to be allies again as we were in defeating the Nazis during WW2.  Putin is signaling that he wants assurances the USA will be a strong ally on that fateful day when the U.S. and Russia will again have to become allies of circumstance.

This is the sad story of the KGB Operative chess player versus our ill equipped community organizer — and the chickens are coming home to roost.