Romney Was Right About Russia - WSJ; William Galston

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Romney Was Right About Russia
In 2012 he called the Kremlin our ‘No. 1 geopolitical foe.’ Why can’t Trump see it?
 By William A. Galston
Dec. 20, 2016 6:38 p.m. ET

President Obama owes Mitt Romney an apology. And so does President-elect Trump.

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer on March 26, 2012, Mr. Romney said that Russia is “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.” He went on to explain: When countries such as Iran and North Korea cross the line, “when Assad . . . is murdering his own people” and we go to the United Nations looking for ways to stop them, “Who is it that always stands up with the world’s worst actors? It’s always Russia.”

In the final presidential debate of the 2012 election, Mr. Obama mocked Mr. Romney’s thesis: The 1980s are “calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War has been over for 20 years.”

There it is, the Obama syllogism: The Cold War is over, and therefore Russia cannot be our principal geopolitical foe. This is faulty logic and even worse empirical analysis. What was evident in 2012 is even clearer today: Because Vladimir Putin believes that the collapse of the Soviet Union was, as he said in 2005, the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century, he is determined to reverse it by all means necessary. His incursion into Georgia, his seizure of Crimea, his role in the “frozen conflict” in eastern Ukraine—all these are part of a ruthlessly consistent strategy.

Continued: http://www.wsj.com/articles/romney-was-right-about-russia-1482277097