The Steel in Barack Obama’s Spine
In Ukraine, the president may face his toughest foreign policy test yet. Is he up to the task?
By POLITICO MAGAZINE
March 03, 2014
As Vladimir Putin’s troops seize control of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, President Obama is facing what some have called the biggest foreign policy challenge of his presidency. True or not, it’s clear his response to this crisis will test him as rarely before. Will he risk a war in Europe to save Ukraine? Punish the Russians through sanctions and diplomatic isolation? Negotiate a face-saving compromise? Or let Putin have his way?
The world is anxious to see how this unlikely leader of the free world responds. But what kind of foreign policy thinker is Obama? Early in his tenure, he appeared an idealist, winning a Nobel Peace Prize, calling for a world without nuclear weapons and urging democratic reform in the Middle East and parts of Asia. But, as Fred Kaplan argues in the March/April issue of Politico Magazine, lately the president has proved himself more of a realist, willing to negotiate with the likes of Iran and refusing to get sucked into a raging civil war in Syria, despite a death toll topping 100,000. So what really drives Barack Obama’s foreign policy—the belief that he can and should make the world a better place or that America should intervene abroad only when the benefits to the United States are worth the costs?
In recent days, Obama has pledged his support for the people of Ukraine, calling Russia’s advance a violation of international law and threatening to “isolate” Moscow through economic and diplomatic means. But how far will Obama be willing to go to protect Ukrainian sovereignty? Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser and an arch-realist, said in an interview with Politico Magazine that Obama’s “eminently sensible” approach so far in dealing with Russia is yet more evidence that the 44th president is also a realist. “Realism doesn’t mean you immediately start an atomic war,” Brzezinski said. “You first, discourage, deter, punish and isolate through other means … enough to make the Ukrainian adventure very costly to the Russians.” We asked seven other foreign policy thinkers to weigh in on how Obama sees the world—and what it means for the days ahead in Ukraine.
(More here.)
By POLITICO MAGAZINE
March 03, 2014
As Vladimir Putin’s troops seize control of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, President Obama is facing what some have called the biggest foreign policy challenge of his presidency. True or not, it’s clear his response to this crisis will test him as rarely before. Will he risk a war in Europe to save Ukraine? Punish the Russians through sanctions and diplomatic isolation? Negotiate a face-saving compromise? Or let Putin have his way?
The world is anxious to see how this unlikely leader of the free world responds. But what kind of foreign policy thinker is Obama? Early in his tenure, he appeared an idealist, winning a Nobel Peace Prize, calling for a world without nuclear weapons and urging democratic reform in the Middle East and parts of Asia. But, as Fred Kaplan argues in the March/April issue of Politico Magazine, lately the president has proved himself more of a realist, willing to negotiate with the likes of Iran and refusing to get sucked into a raging civil war in Syria, despite a death toll topping 100,000. So what really drives Barack Obama’s foreign policy—the belief that he can and should make the world a better place or that America should intervene abroad only when the benefits to the United States are worth the costs?
In recent days, Obama has pledged his support for the people of Ukraine, calling Russia’s advance a violation of international law and threatening to “isolate” Moscow through economic and diplomatic means. But how far will Obama be willing to go to protect Ukrainian sovereignty? Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser and an arch-realist, said in an interview with Politico Magazine that Obama’s “eminently sensible” approach so far in dealing with Russia is yet more evidence that the 44th president is also a realist. “Realism doesn’t mean you immediately start an atomic war,” Brzezinski said. “You first, discourage, deter, punish and isolate through other means … enough to make the Ukrainian adventure very costly to the Russians.” We asked seven other foreign policy thinkers to weigh in on how Obama sees the world—and what it means for the days ahead in Ukraine.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
I hope President Obama is not consulting his community organizer buddies.
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