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West’s response to Ukraine crisis problematic

There is a problem with reporting about the Crimea and our government’s and the United States government’s take on the situation.
There is a problem with reporting about the Crimea and our government’s and the United States government’s take on the situation. Why is the fifth estate not condemning the west’s position?

I am surprised at Prime Minister Stephen Harper; he has been quite astute in his foreign policy. I am not surprised at Obama, he has acted as a sophomore in love for all of his presidency.

The Crimea and the Black Sea fleet are an integral part of the defence of the Russian nation. It has been for centuries. Crimea was Russian until the Ukrainian Nikita Khrushchev symbolically signed it over while the CCCP was still intact. It was never meant to be outside Russia’s sphere of influence. The majority of people want to be Russian, so it is Russian.

Putin will not and should not allow the Ukraine or NATO jeopardize the integrity of its fleet by allowing the Ukraine to invite missiles onto its property by joining NATO.

If Obama and company think they were smart fomenting unrest and unreasonable expectations in the Ukraine, they are now reaping what they have sowed. It will end in Russia’s favour, as it should.

Regretfully, the west now has no leader. Obama, who inherited the mantle of the leader of the free world, lost it after drawing lines in the sand and breaking almost every election promise of any note right up until the present time.

With no support at home and less than no support with his allies, he has faded on the global stage, leaving a power vacuum.

As you know, nature hates a vacuum and Putin has filled it. Admittedly, the mantle was quite tarnished when Obama inherited it.

This will play out as in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan — all great American ventures and all great American failures.

It will embolden tin pot dictators who once feared the United States and its moral authority, and we will all pay the price until a Churchill or an FDR comes onto the world stage.

I weep for the once great humanitarian nation whose legacy of the Marshal plan was once a beacon for the free world.

Funny, it will likely be Germany who offers leadership here for Europe and Europe’s allies. People will not be happy with what I say. I think I am a lot closer to the truth than the supposed experts.

Frank Madigan
Greater Sudbury