Cage Fighter vs. Pajama Boy; Putin Confronts the West

Events continue to unfold as many of us had foreseen. It took no genius, no great foresight, no great Nostradamus powers to understand what would happen when a man as lacking in basic knowledge, leadership and managerial skills as Obama became President of the United States. It, furthermore, did not take much wisdom or witchcraft to divine that a man so full of conventional leftist thinking and upbringing would find it impossible to learn on the job to defend US core interests. He has never had those interests at heart, and instead has trusted a glib teleprompter, a guilt-shamed media, and a ruthless unethical approach to life to guide him through the political nights and storms.

We now see the crisis in Ukraine. A couple of days ago, Obama boldly told us that the invasion of Ukraine had put Putin "on the wrong side of history." Says who? And who writes the history of an era? The winners or the losers? These are the kind of maddening, empty-calorie phrases that sound good and tough and gutsy and erudite coming off of some speechwriter's printer, but sound pathetic and laughable uttered when confronting a guy at the head of a tank column.

Time to face facts. None of Obama's supposed "talents" works when dealing with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the Shining Shooting Tsar of Eurasia--arguably the smartest national leader in the world. Let me back up. "Smartest" might be the wrong word. Yes, it definitely is the wrong one. That word is too loosely defined and too easily pinned on too many. What makes Putin successful and such a formidable geopolitical foe (thank you, Mitt Romney) is not that he is just "smart," but that he is a throw-back to a different era. He hunts and fishes, and doesn't care about the political fashion and sensitivities of the day; pajama boy has no place in Putin's cage fighter universe. Despite his upbringing as a Communist, he is now devoutly religious and wants to see religion restored to Russian life. As the jihadis have discovered, they have in Putin a rival as ruthless and religiously committed as they, and not bound by the conventions of political correctness.

Putin is a man of hard-work, careful preparation, an avid student of potential opponents, willing to exploit opportunities, and, above all, driven by a vision on his mission: restoring Russia to the top ranks of the world hierarchy. He is determined to end what he sees as the world's mistreatment of and disregard for Russia. He saw the condescending manner in which Clinton and other world leaders treated the amiable sclerotic alcoholic Boris Yeltsin, who named Putin Prime Minister in 1999. Putin will not allow that again. He wants his legacy to be the man who restored Russia's greatness and made the world recognize it.

Let's sum up this part of the post:

Putin is a patriot; Obama is not.
Putin has a deep understanding of his country's history and people; Obama does not.
Putin wants his country to be number one; Obama could not care less.
Putin knows that words have meaning; Barack "Red Line" Obama hasn't a clue.
Putin has Lavrov; Obama has Kerry.
Advantage Putin.

There is an old Spanish saying, "Mal de muchos, consuelo de tontos." It very roughly translates to "Misery loves company," but more dramatic and evocative, more along the lines of "The misery of the many is the consolation of the foolish." Given that we have a foolish misadministration in DC, perhaps Mr. Obama can draw solace from the fact that he is not the only fantasy player "confronting" Putin. More bluntly put, what's the best place to hide a fool? In a herd of fools. A needle in a stack of needles.

Obama's foreign policy guru, John "Xmas in Cambodia" Kerry expressed his outrage over recent Russian actions in Ukraine as follows,

You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped up pre-text . . .

Wow! If that doesn't sting Putin into a moody bout of Dostoevsky-like reflection, I don't know what will. He has accused Putin of not being of this century! Alas! John "I Marry Rich Ones" Kerry doesn't understand that Putin takes that as a compliment. Putin doesn't necessary like the way the 21st century was set to go, and is doing what he can to reroute it. By the way, Mr. John "I Speak French" Kerry, who says that in the 21st century you don't invade another country for whatever pretext? Where is that written, and who enforces it? If that were the case, none of us would need a military. No? Sort of makes the argument for a healthy nuclear deterrent, eh? You know like the one Ukraine gave up in exchange for assurances that its sovereignty would be respected by Russia and guaranteed by the West.

Wait, my fine friends. The lunacy gets even more, well, lunatic. Our fearless Ambassador to the UN, Samantha "I Hate Israel" Power sent out the following sweet Twitter Tweet on March 3,

There is a way out: #Russia must directly dialogue with #Ukraine, immediately pull back forces, and allow international monitors.

Bang! Gotcha Vlad! Bet you never thought of that! Just declare "Oops!" pull back your commandos and soldiers, and allow in international monitors. Dear Ambassador, do you think that maybe, just maybe, Putin sent his forces in for a reason? Or do you think it was accidental?

Ah, but the idiocy is not restricted to this side of the Atlantic. Angela Merkel, at times a reasonable person, showed she is not immune to Mind Sapping Disease (MSD) which has afflicted nearly all Western leaders. According to a NYT report,

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told Mr. Obama by telephone on Sunday that after speaking with Mr. Putin she was not sure he was in touch with reality, people briefed on the call said. “In another world,” she said.

Putin not in touch with reality, eh? One wonders who is out of touch. Again, we see the harkening to an imaginary world, a world that exists only in the minds of the leftist loons who run the West these days, and who think that the nature of man and the essence of successful foreign policy have undergone some radical transformation.

We could go and on. 

Let's just say that we have on our hands a New Old Russia. Blah, blah, wishes, and pink unicorns will not cut it. On paper, Russia is not strong compared to the West. The West should be able to handle Russia relatively easily. Russia, however, has one big advantage. Russia has leadership, a determined leadership not afraid to make decisions and act. That compensates for several orders of economic and technological inferiority. The West has, well, you know what the West has, and it ain't good.

Pajama Boy will not do well in the Cage.