Fleitz-Miniter: Obama's Foreign Policy Shies Away From Military MightFriday, 28 Mar 2014 08:17 PM
President Barack Obama is pushing a passive foreign policy that shies away from showcasing America's military might, according to investigative journalist Richard Miniter, a foreign policy and national security expert.
"Obama seems to want to have the foreign policy of Canada or Belgium, where you spend most of your time in international forums like the UN talking and letting other people lead," Miniter told "The Steve Malzberg Show" Friday on Newsmax TV.
"The United States uniquely has the military power to enforce its will around the world … The Texas Air Guard has more airplanes than all of our European allies combined.
"So the United States is unique in its global reach, in its military power, and if you want to have a foreign policy like Canada or Belgium, you need to have an America behind you. And that's what Barack Obama doesn't seem to understand."
Fred Fleitz, chief analyst of the global forecasting and intelligence service LIGNET, agrees.
He believes the president's tagging of Russia as a "regional" power as well as weak sanctions encourages Russian President Vladimir Putin to push further into Ukraine.
"We've seen ultimatums and threats and repercussions for the Russians that they've laughed at, and I'm really worried what this will mean to other rogue states, such as Iran and North Korea," Fleitz said.
Fleitz believes Russia may be ready for a major military strike.
"There may be 100,000 Russian troops on the Ukraine border right now, and we need to take seriously the possibility that there could be an imminent attack, " he said.
"On the other hand, you have to consider the possibility that it could be that all Putin wanted to do was to seize Crimea because he thinks it's historically Russian.
"That's unlikely, but we don't know his motivations, and that's what makes this so dangerous."
Miniter, author of "Leading from Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him," published by St. Martin's Press, said Russia's aggression also bodes badly because it is a major supplier of bomb-making uranium to Iran.
"Iran itself only has a three- to six-month supply of uranium in its own soil and it's clear that they're importing that uranium from Russia and from former Soviet republics nearby Russia with Russia's assistance," he said.
"And let's also not forget there are 300 Russian scientists working at the Iranian atomic facility at Bashir, so the Russians are heavily involved in the Iranian nuclear buildup."
