Who Put These People in Power? Really? Obama Draws Another Red line?

Unlike many others around, I don't pretend to understand fully events in Ukraine. It is a country beset by many problems including a murky Constitituion, ethnic and language issues, a history of subordination to Russia--a tradition Putin does not seem eager to give up--and the usual issues of corruption and incompetence seen in countries trying to emerge from decades of dictatorship and foreign domination. It is quite a cauldron of political stew; usually the last thing those kind of boiling, overflowing pots need is meddlesome foreign cooks running around, giving advice, and siding with one chef or another. Russia, the EU, and, of course, the US all have been involved to varying degrees, and often at cross-purposes.

Our semi-Francophone Secretary of State John "Xmas in Cambodia" Kerry put out a salt-free, low-fat  statement on the crisis and hasn't done much more other than send his inept Assistant Secretary of European Affairs to say stupid things on the phone, have them taped, and released to the world by any one of many intelligence services with the capability to intercept phone calls, or, for that matter, by any one of about 35 million teenaged hackers with that same ability.

Seeing that Ukraine and Venezuela are now aflame, joining his other diplomatic successes in the Middle East and North Africa, Kerry has decided to focus his languorous "energy" on the greatest threat of all, "global climate change." The threat to ordinary people, apparently, does not come from poverty, tyranny, jihadis, corruption, and political megalomaniacs, no, not all: It comes from your SUV and home thermostat setting.

President Obama, resolute leader that he is, has decided to fill the power vacuum created by the absence of John "I Married a Zillionaire" Kerry. His White House has put out the following statement on Ukraine, which I reproduce in its entirety because it is such a liberal classic,

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

February 20, 2014

Statement by the Press Secretary on Ukraine

We are outraged by the images of Ukrainian security forces firing automatic weapons on their own people. We urge President Yanukovych to immediately withdraw his security forces from downtown Kyiv and to respect the right of peaceful protest, and we urge protesters to express themselves peacefully. We urge the Ukrainian military not to get involved in a conflict that can and should be resolved by political means. The use of force will not resolve the crisis -- clear steps must be taken to stop the violence and initiate meaningful dialogue that reduces tension and addresses the grievances of the Ukrainian people. The United States will work with our European allies to hold those responsible for violence accountable and to help the Ukrainian people get a unified and independent Ukraine back on the path to a better future.

Ok, then.

That pretty much should settle it. 

Maybe not. 

Note that the White House is "outraged by images of Ukrainian security forces firing automatic weapons." Our leaders, apparently, sense no outrage over the actual firing of automatic weapons, but only the images of such firing. (I guess they're not outraged over the firing of semi-automatic weapons?) In progressive speak that might be called giving the Ukrainians a hint, i.e., don't allow those images to come out. Or, to be kinder to our White House, it might just be pure, simple stupidity that comes from the reliance on boilerplate phrases with no thought given to what is being said, including equating the protestors to the people shooting them--a minor quibble.

Even more important is that the US and the EU will "hold those responsible for violence accountable." Really? Who believes that? Who believes that statement and the President's comment that "there will be consequences" for those who do bad things in Ukraine by "stepping over the line"? I can't believe Obama would even dare utter "line" given his use of that word in the not-too-distant Syrian crisis (Whatever happened with that? All fixed, I guess.) Wonder when he will say he never said that, and the "line" was the world's and not his? And what consequences? No IPod with Obama's speeches?

If we had a real President, and a real foreign policy backed up by a real deterrent, these would be challenging times, but times full of opportunity for the United States and our allies. The Venezuela regime is cracking; the Castro farce is gasping for breath; Russia is being challenged in Ukraine and by the advent of fracking; the Mad Mullah Iranians' economy was on the ropes; we had stunning victories in Iraq and Afghanistan; and on and on, but the USA throws it all away.

Who the blazes put these people in power? Can we blame some evil foreigners? Can I blame Canada? I need to blame Canadians or maybe Australians for something because they are both doing much better than we, and I am envious.

I fear the answer to my question .  . .