Barack Obama Rewrites His Russia History
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Russia's bloody invasion of Ukraine has sparked an Olympic sprint of sorts as politicians run away from their abysmal records regarding Vladimir Putin. Few are running faster than former President Barack Obama, who this week tried to rewrite the history of his own Russia policies.
"As somebody who grappled with the incursion into Crimea and the eastern portions of Ukraine, I have been encouraged by the European reaction [this time]," Mr. Obama said at an event in Chicago. "Because in 2014, I often had to drag them kicking and screaming to respond in ways that we would have wanted to see from those of us who describe ourselves as Western democracies."
As for Mr. Putin, the former U.S. President purports to be surprised by the Russian leader’s brutality. “I don’t know that the person I knew is the same as the person who is now leading this charge. He was always ruthless. You witnessed what he did in Chechnya, he had no qualms about crushing those whom he considered a threat. That’s not new. For him to bet the farm in this way—I would not have necessarily predicted from him five years ago.”
Mr. Obama managed to say all this with a straight face while speaking at an event about “disinformation” in politics.
Start with Mr. Obama’s claim he was a champion of harsher measures against Russia after the invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. His Administration imposed only mild, targeted sanctions on Russia—and then joined with Moscow to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran. He refused to sell Javelin antitank weapons to Ukraine. Germany pushed ahead with its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in this era with nary a peep from Washington until the Trump Administration.
Mr. Obama also can’t claim as much ignorance as he does now about Mr. Putin’s intentions and methods at the time. Mr. Putin had risen to power allegedly by bombing apartment buildings in Russia, as U.S. intelligence no doubt knew or highly suspected, and even Mr. Obama concedes Mr. Putin’s 1999 assault on Grozny in Chechnya was “ruthless.”
There also were the 2006 assassinations of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko, Mr. Putin’s provocative speech criticizing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Munich in 2007, and the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia.
In 2009 Mr. Obama nonetheless dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Geneva to negotiate a “reset” on relations with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. In 2012 Mr. Obama accused Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of hewing to a retrograde 1980s foreign policy for viewing Russia as a threat, while telling Putin henchman Dmitry Medvedev when he thought no one was listening that he’d have more latitude to cut Mr. Putin some slack after the U.S. election.
Some reset. In addition to the Crimea and Donbas invasions, 2014 saw the shoot-down of a Malaysian Airlines flight by Russia-linked forces in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s cluster bombing of Aleppo in Syria followed in 2015-16. Mr. Putin’s suppression of domestic dissent accelerated, and he amped up his rhetoric against NATO and an independent Ukraine. And don’t forget the meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, which Mr. Obama punished with wrist-slap sanctions only after Donald Trump won.
Mr. Obama’s main concession to Russian reality was to lobby NATO allies to increase their annual defense spending to 2% of GDP, although for the most part they ignored him. One can almost understand why they did, since they saw him cozying up to Mr. Putin on Iran while talking down the Russia threat.
All of this is relevant now because the Biden Administration is loaded with men and women who worked for Mr. Obama and shared his misjudgments about Russia. The conceit in many quarters on the left is that Mr. Putin has changed, or is deranged, such that his Ukraine invasion couldn’t have been foreseen.
But Mr. Obama’s weakness toward Russia, reinforced by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is one reason Mr. Putin felt he could act with increasing aggressiveness and get away with it. No one should believe Mr. Obama’s varnished Russia history.
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This is exactly what I mean about historian's need to ignore a president's view of his own presidency. Historians concern themselves with the facts. That may be hard to do with the current president and the two controversial presidents that preceded him.
It was Trump that was tough on Russia, not Biden, not Obama, certainly not Hillary.
Excellent speech last night. Biden's horrible record was all that was needed.
LOL. You must like your politicians unhinged.
Trump was right on last night as usual. Nothing politically would make me more happy than his return to the White House in 2024 as President elect #47!
Obama isn’t that dumb. He knows his foreign policy legacy is in shambles after serving as Putin’s chief enabler, so now he’s going to simply rewrite reality and trust that his acolytes in the press will help him do so. Which is a good bet.
obama prioritized obtaining a worthless agreement with iran above all else. Didn’t matter how many American troops iran killed. Since iran refused to negotiate with him directly, he needed Russian help. So Russia steamrolled him year after year and he humiliated our country by refusing to provide arms to Ukraine and rolling over to Putin in Syria.
the really sick part is Biden is working to give Putin a lifeline by trying to do the same thing right now.
He was also a master politician and a celebrity president. How many of those acolytes in the press will take a shot at amateur historian?
the really sick part is Biden is working to give Putin a lifeline by trying to do the same thing right now.
You mean Biden and the State Department are looking for a negotiated settlement, rather than a Ukrainian win?
No, Biden is negotiating with russia on behalf of iran, again. An agreement will be a windfall for Putin and iran.
after watching what Putin’s some in Ukraine (again) how could anyone believe putin should be the arbiter of Iranian’s nucleur program?
There are lot's of details with the devil in all of them.
This is a tweet the other day from Mikhail Ulyanov, who is Biden's Russian point man for the Iran nuclear talks:
"The Russian MoD emphasises that Tochka-U tactical missiles, the wreckage of which was found near the Kramatorsk railway station and published by eyewitnesses, are used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces"
Maybe an errant missile? That would make some sense out of what was written on it.
I think Russia knew exactly what the purpose of that bomb was and labeled it accordingly.
That’s exactly what he’s doing. Biden intended to transport Zelensky out of there and let the Russians March in an install a puppet regime to rule over a demoralized people. Zelensky standing tall and rallying his people Churchill style to go all in and all out resistance to the Russian invader was the last thing Biden wanted.
What in the hell....
That is the craziest conspiracy I have heard all week.
I would absolutely love to see proof of this whackadoodle conspiracy theory. The right wing has been pro-Russia for YEARS. Do you watch Carlson at all?
"Why shouldn't I root for Russia in this war?"
-T. Carlson
Hell, even Starnes called Zelensky a criminal before he noticed that the vast majority of the USA was siding with the Ukraine, at which time he quickly changed his tune.
Biden has played the Russia/Ukraine war PERFECTLY. Lest we forget who withheld military funding for Ukraine in an attempt to extort them. You DO remember that, right?
I think for many on the Left, this is the only reason they give a shit about Russia. As long as this fantastic narrative of Russia and Trump working together persists, Democrats will continue to say bad things about Russia. Otherwise, many of them couldn't care less.
That is insulting bullshit. Decent people no matter their political affiliations are rightly appalled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I am sickened by the bombing of hospitals and train stations. Mad as hell at the destruction and death. You are way out of line making such awful unfair judgment upon half your fellow Americans, and that is really fucked up...
You should be sickened.
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Calm down. No one insulted you. I didn’t say shit about you. Wow!
Actually, I think you’re the one who is out of line for whining like an old woman about something that wasn’t even directed at you.
Ahem, I'm an old woman and I don't whine. I can't even think of an old woman I know that whines (and this post isn't whining, lol).
I didn’t suggest that you do. I didn’t even mention you. Nor did I suggest that all old women whine. What is this? “Get-pissed-about-shit-not-directed-at-you Day?
Sorry, I thought it was humorous.
Fair enough.
It is a wonder that anybody wants to be president of this country! Critics are a dime a dozen. Case in point: This clown who penned a negative opinion peace against 'anybody' not Putin. Where is the upside? If there is a downside there has to be an upside too!
Our country is a world leader and we 'house' the world's people as citizens of our land. We have a responsibility to make concessions (hear the cries) of our vaulted citizenry when they group themselves together and ask us to aid their former lands in times of famine, thirst, fires, earthquakes, floods, and yes war. Each situation deserves its own measures and degrees of helping—thus, our leader, especially the world's apex leader, will perpetually be more open to take in criticism from opiners at home and abroad.
Many writers of whom are writing to survive (and pens) or take advantage of the 'gaps' in action and activities which take unspecified time to play themselves out.
Such articles are very. . .tiresome. 'Everybody" is a critic. That said, we can turn and bite the critics too!