The "Mistake" and the "Wrong Side of History"

The talking points for the Obamacrats regarding Ukraine are becoming clear, but the course of action is not.  The word from the White House is that president Obama's allies are supposed to say that Putin and the Russians have made a mistake in the Ukraine and are on the "wrong side of history".  As the church lady on SNL used to say, "Well isn't that special!"  We are all to believe that the Russian takeover of the Crimean region of the Ukraine and perhaps more of the eastern section of that nation is a mistake which will isolate Russia and reveal its weakness.  Get it?  Russia uses force to detach a section of a neighboring country in a manner most frequently seen in the 18th and 19th centuries and that shows weakness.  The problem, of course, is that it shows nothing of the sort.  Taking over additional territory shows strength, not weakness.  When Russian forces smash a neighbor into giving up control of territory, it makes all of Russia's neighbors more fearful of the Kremlin and less likely to accept the platitudes offered by Obama and others on his behalf.  Countries like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania understand that a speech by Obama condemning the Russians is not going to stop bullets or artillery shells fired by the modern equivalent of the Red Army.  A ruthless ruler like Putin does not care what Obama says; his only concern is what Obama does.  Putin already learned well the lesson that Obama's principal trait in foreign policy is dithering--he just cannot make up his mind.  Indeed, even when Obama says his mind is made up (like when he announced a red line regarding chemical weapons in Syria), it is not something that anyone else can rely upon. 

The real truth is that Putin did not make a mistake in the Ukraine unless there really is a concrete and active response from the West.  There have to be real costs to what Putin has done.  Russia has to suffer serious consequences for this attack on a neighbor.  So far, the biggest move made by Obama has been to pull the USA out of the Paralympics in Sochi.  Putin gets part of the Ukraine, and in response we refuse to send some paralyzed athletes to compete in games in Sochi.  Maybe if Putin takes the whole country, Obama will close the Russian Tea Room restaurant in New York.  That should make Putin nervous!

This is not a case of trying to make the USA look macho.  Instead, America needs to convince the Russians that continuation of their current course will bring dire consequences to that country.