Obama Told Ukraine Not to Fight Russian Invasion
"Putin was surprised at how easy Crimea went"
August 23, 2015
Daniel Greenfield
Obama is nothing if not consistent when it comes to undermining allies and appeasing enemies. He kept on being flexible even as Russia was invading a potential NATO member.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces took over Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in early 2014, the interim Ukrainian government was debating whether or not to fight back against the "little green men" Russia had deployed. But the message from the Barack Obama administration was clear: avoid military confrontation with Moscow.
That's easier to do when you aren't being invaded by Moscow.
But nonetheless, McFaul said, the ease with which Putin was able to take Crimea likely influenced his decision to expand Russia's campaign in eastern Ukraine: "I think Putin was surprised at how easy Crimea went and therefore when somebody said let's see what else we can do, he decided to gamble.”
As Russia's old Nazi allies sang, back when Russia and Germany were carving up Poland, "Poland in eighteen days."
As it turns out, the enemy does get a vote. And appeasement doesn't actually work. Successful resistance does. Just ask the Finns who fought back and invented the Molotov cocktail.
The White House feared that if the Ukrainian military fought in Crimea, it would give Putin justification to launch greater military intervention in Ukraine, using similar logic to what Moscow employed in 2008 when Putin invaded large parts of Georgia in response to a pre-emptive attack by the Tbilisi government. Russian forces occupy two Georgian provinces to this day.
Surprisingly, Putin didn't need justification to invade places. This is a regime currently hunting down Russians who eat foreign cheeses. It's a regime that used radioactive poisons to kill its enemies... in London.
Being flexible doesn't work with murderous tyrants.
Looking back today, many experts and officials point to the decision not to stand and fight in Crimea as the beginning of a Ukraine policy based on the assumption that avoiding conflict with Moscow would temper Putin's aggression. But that was a miscalculation. Almost two years later, Crimea is all but forgotten, Russian-backed separatist forces are in control of two large Ukrainian provinces, and the shaky cease-fire between the two sides is in danger of collapsing.
But don't worry. The JayVee Team saw this coming a long way off.
When Russian special operations forces, military units and intelligence officers seized Crimea, it surprised the U.S. government. Intelligence analysts had briefed Congress 24 hours before the stealth invasion, saying the Russian troop buildup on Ukraine's border was a bluff.
Bluff? Putin isn't Obama. He might bluff, but if he faces no opposition, then there's no reason for him not to act. Only Obama bluffs when he can act because he's an appeaser and a coward. It's why no one takes America seriously anymore.
The White House declined to comment on any internal communications with the Ukrainian government. A senior administration official told us that the U.S. does not recognize Russia's occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, and pointed to a series of sanctions the U.S. and Europe have placed on Russia since the Ukraine crisis began.
"We remain committed to maintaining pressure on Russia to fulfill its commitments under the Minsk agreements and restore Ukraine's territorial integrity, including Crimea," the senior administration official said.
Like those Iran sanctions, right?
Now Russia just needs to negotiate a deal that will let it have Ukraine and Poland while Obama whines that everyone who disagrees is a warmongering traitor making common cause with Putin while plotting another Iraq War.
Obama has told lawmakers in private meetings that his decision not to arm the Ukrainians was in part due to a desire to avoid direct military confrontation with Russia, one Republican lawmaker who met with Obama on the subject told us. The U.S. has pledged a significant amount of non-lethal aid to the Ukrainian military, but delivery of that aid has often been delayed. Meanwhile, Russian direct military involvement in Eastern Ukraine has continued at a high level.
To summarize
1. Obama won't arm Ukraine
2. Despite promising non-lethal aid, he won't even provide that
3. Putin beats Obama like a rented mule
The Obama administration, led on this issue by Kerry, is still pursuing a reboot of U.S.-Russia relations.
Time for another reset button.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/259887/obama-told-ukraine-not-fight-russian-invasion-daniel-greenfield
