Amy Payne
The Foundry
Heritage.org
2/24/2014
The international scene in the past couple of weeks was supposed to be a smiling gathering of nations for the Olympics. That has been overshadowed by violence in Ukraine and Venezuela, where protesters are demanding leadership that would address their concerns of freedom, both personal and economic.
Where is President Obama?
Nile Gardiner, director of Heritage’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, observes:
The leader of the free world has been largely invisible as Ukrainian demonstrators are ruthlessly picked off by government snipers and left for dead, while Russian President Vladimir Putin vows that Ukraine will remain in Russia’s orbit.
Obama’s approach to foreign policy, which Heritage experts have described as a “radical departure” from previous presidents, has relied heavily on international institutions and summits to address problems…
The article continues at Heritage.org
Related: Russia slams Ukraine upheaval as illegal ‘armed uprising’
The Russian prime minister attacked the legitimacy of Kiev’s government, which ousted President Yanukovych over the weekend. But Moscow is waiting to see what happens next before acting.
Why A Free Ukraine Is Putin’s Worst Nightmare
…When the protests started back in November they were about a trade deal with the EU. Russia was ecstatic that it had persuaded Ukraine to walk away from that deal, and was picking off the other states in the EU’s “Eastern Partnership” programme (Armenia caved in September, Georgia and Moldova were expected to come under enormous pressure in 2014). Russia hoped to drag them into its alternative Eurasian Union instead, which is due to be launched in January 2015.
But this is 10 times worse than Brussels expanding its bureaucracy to Russia’s borders. A real democracy in Ukraine is an existential threat to the entire system that Vladimir Putin has built since 2000….
Russia feels double-crossed over Ukraine – but what will Putin do?
Update: Michael Ramirez at Investors.com:
Also by Ramirez:
