Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Obama to Russia: No, invading Iraq isn’t the same as annexing Crimea « Hot Air

Obama to Russia: No, invading Iraq isn’t the same as annexing Crimea « Hot Air: "A welcome bit from a surprisingly strong speech in Brussels today warning Europeans not to look the other way at fascist expansionism aimed at the neighborhood’s lesser powers. Casual indifference to Ukraine, he said in an uncharacteristically good line, “would ignore the lessons that are written in the cemeteries of this continent.” As for the Iraq bit, I wonder if that was really aimed at Russia or at hardline anti-war critics in the west whose eagerness to score points on the U.S. and/or shill for Russian irredentism (“whataboutism”) leads them to seize on Iraq as a tu quoque. O could have played this two ways, by agreeing that Iraq and Crimea are malignant misadventures and emphasizing that he opposed both of them or by defending his country’s war while overseas despite his opposition to it. The first route would have been classic “above the fray” Obama, the second route more statesmanlike. He chose route two. And if you think this point doesn’t need to be made, go read the new statement from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. “Noninterventionism” is a very nuanced concept in some whataboutist quarters."



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