George Wallace vs Foreign Policy
by Jesse J. Lewis, Sr.
When George Wallace was running for President of the United States, one of the main criticisms regarding his potential presidency was that he knew nothing about foreign affairs.
When a reporter asked him about foreign affairs in a press conference his response was – “Yes, it’s true, I don’t have much knowledge in dealing with foreigners. What I do know is every time I deal with them I get screwed.”
There were a lot of politicians, want-to-bes and used-to-bes, criticizing President Obama as it relates to dealing with Russia. They go so far as to praise Putin, stating how strong his leadership abilities are, his standing behind what he says and Barack Obama is a weakling.
My question to them is, if Putin keeps annexing territories, would they feel the same way if Putin tried to annex the United States. Every President, starting with Reagan, has had difficulty dealing with Russia and as long as Putin is in there, the situation will never change.
According to the latest news from CNN’s writers Alla Eshchenko and Laura Smith-Spark, Putin denied that Russia had been militarily involved in Crimea, despite what has been stated by authors in the Ukraine capital and international observers. “We have not used our armed forces in Crimea,” Putin said.
He also said that Russia’s military forces did not enter Crimea in the current crisis, but “were already there” in accordance with previous international negotiations. He praised the 22,000 Russian troops in Crimea for avoiding bloodshed.
Russia’s Black Sea fleet is based in the Crimea port city of Sevastopol but the movements of its forces within Crimea are supposed to be agreed upon with Kiev.
Acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called Russian annexation of Crimea “a robbery on an international scale.” In the joint news conference with Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s interim President Oleksandr Turchynov told reporters that Russian President Vladmir Putin is “mimicking the fascists of the last century” by annexing Crimea, which he said “has been and will be a part of our country.”
Putin, who was greeted by a standing ovation and whose remarks were punctuated by regular and enthusiastic applause, also accused the West of “double standards” and cynicism in its response to the crisis in Crimea, citing Kosovo, which split from Serbia, as an example of a precedent.
Western powers slapped sanctions on more than two dozen Russian officials and their allies in Crimea, while Ukrainian officials vowed they would never accept the territory’s annexation by Russia.
But the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the Duma, shrugged off the sanctions, going so far as to draft a statement calling for all its members to be listed.
“Today we suggest that the Americans include all the members of the Duma on their sanctions list. Our principles aren’t for sale and we aren’t afraid of sanctions.”
It will be interesting to see what the outcome will be.
e-mail: jjlewis@birminghamtimes.com
