Which country poses the biggest threat to the United States: North Korea, Iraq, Russia, China or Mexico?
The above question was posed to the 11 Democratic candidates running for Massachusetts’ 3rd Congressional District seat at a recent newspaper-sponsored debate.
Seven candidates in the field of six men and five women replied “Russia” as America’s No. 1 militaristic threat on the planet. Three answered “China,” purely for economic reasons pertaining to the theft of U.S. technology and other corporate proprietary secrets. One said, “North Korea short term, Russia medium term and China long term.”
Clearly, Russia is on the radar of every Democrat.
The question is: Why now?
During a 2012 U.S. presidential-election debate, President Barack Obama mocked Mitt Romney, his Republican opponent who boldly stated that the U.S. was underestimating Russia’s evil global intentions. Obama charged: “When you were asked, what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said ‘Russia.’ Not al-Qaeda; you said Russia. And, the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because, the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”
Well, we all know how things turned out. Romney lost the election but was right about Russia. Obama went on to engage in a policy of Russian appeasement, allowing Putin to cross every line in the sand drawn to curb the Russian bear claw.
It got worse when Obama appointed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Remember her “Russian reset”? The only thing reset was the billions of dollars that poured into the coffers of Russian oligarchs — and Putin — in African oil and mineral rights deals orchestrated by friends of the Clintons. In return, former President Bill Clinton received rich speaking fees for going to Moscow and the Clinton Foundation raked in millions in donations.
What did Russia do on Obama’s watch?
In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia, a pro-Western country that wanted to join NATO. In 2014, Russian soldiers, with insignias removed from their uniforms, invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. Today, eastern Ukraine remains a Russian proxy. Also, in 2104, the Russians shot down a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, killing 298 people onboard. Putin refused to issue an apology; instead he blamed the CIA.
In 2015, Putin joined the Syrian civil war in support of Bashar al-Assad’s criminal actions, including Assad’s use of poisonous gas against his own people. In 2018, Russian intelligence agents are suspected in the attempted murders, via the use of toxic nerve gas, of a former Russian diplomat and his daughter in Britain.
Putin’s “global war” against the West has been going on for a decade. Yet Democrats point to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election — and absurd and unproven charges of Trump-Russian collusion — as the pivotal straw that broke the camel’s back.
It’s good to see Democrats are finally coming around to what Romney knew as fact six years ago — Russia is out to get us.
But if Trump hadn’t defeated the Democrats’ chosen candidate, Hillary Clinton, at the polls in November 2016, would they really be sounding off so stridently now?
We agree Trump’s foreign policy conduct toward Putin’s sabre-rattling has been curious. On Friday, while heading to the G-7 economic summit in Quebec, Trump called for the reinstatement of Russia, which was ousted for its 2014 annexation of Crimea. That’s not an option, Mr. Trump, unless Putin’s willing to make major concessions for past and present actions.
Russia is no friend of the United States. In fact, Democrats and Republicans alike must unite to rein in Putin’s undeclared war against America. But Democrats must do it for the right reasons — it’s Russia, not Trump, we should be fighting.
