Russia now says they may start basing bombers in Venezuela — and Cuba:

Ed Morrissey

Oh I hope they do, what sweet targets they would be.

His response to the Russians moving into Cuba will no doubt be ‘Kumbayah.”

Probably the Jihadists will pounce on us too, once they stop laughing at our incompetence and lethal naivite’.

And you guys are deliberately trying to make the president look bad, fact be damned.

Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 12:27 PM
LOL. Like I said before, was I trying to make him look incredibly stupid by forcing him to say “profit and earnings ratios” or telling him to buy DVD’s for Gordon Brown, or telling him to have the US prostrate ourselves in front of Iran, or running around apologizing to the whole world for the terrible character of the last administration, … and on and on and on. And, as you pointed out, it’s only been two months.

progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 12:42 PM

Don’t forget the 57 states comment. And the Caterpillar hiring mixup. And the Bill Richardson nomination.

hawksruleva on March 16, 2009 at 9:18 AM

Or when he tried to enter the Oval Office thru a window, or confusing Ottowa and Iowa, Sunrise and Sunshine, Souix Falls and Souix City, 10,000 dead in a Kansas tornado (it was 12 people), the Selma comments, the uncle who liberated Auschiwtz, the bumbling ‘what they’ll say is’ video, the ‘my muslim faith’ comment.

The guy is in so far over his head it isn’t even funny.

He can’t even be honest about who he is because he has built his entire life on lies, deceit, selling propaganda and manipulating of the cracks in the system.

And you guys are deliberately trying to make the president look bad, fact be damned.

Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 12:27 PM
LOL. Like I said before, was I trying to make him look incredibly stupid by forcing him to say “profit and earnings ratios” or telling him to buy DVD’s for Gordon Brown, or telling him to have the US prostrate ourselves in front of Iran, or running around apologizing to the whole world for the terrible character of the last administration, … and on and on and on. And, as you pointed out, it’s only been two months.

progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 12:42 PM

Don’t forget the 57 states comment. And the Caterpillar hiring mixup. And the Bill Richardson nomination.

But I am saying that tension between US and Russia rose dramatically while Bush was in office. And this announcement seems like a continuation of that.

Tom_Shipley

But, Obama’s election was supposed to usher in an era of peace and understanding among all nations, right? I mean, if Russia’s still going to be mad at us when we get rid of the cowboy, then what’s the point of switching to the lefty?

I agree with your first paragraph, but what Ed and others are trying to say is that Russia wouldn’t try this sort of thing with Bush in office. And that the only reason Russia made this announcement was that Obama is weak. It’s just plain ridiculous.

Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 11:14 AM

They made this announcement shortly after Zero offered to delay the missile defense shield in exchange for help dealing with Iran.

Russia said they couldn’t help with Iran – but as long as Obama is throwing out the missile defense system as a negotiating chip the Russians counter with this.

Worst case scenario they use this as a chip to get Zero to delay the missile shield without actually giving up anything at all.

Putin wins. Zero gets played.

Obama’s first reaction will of course be to advise America to act with restraint.

darktood on March 16, 2009 at 3:02 AM

Even worse. Much worse. Just look up-thread a bit at what Tom_Shipley was saying, over and over and over. He views this as a Russian reaction to US aggression. Forget restraint. We’re going into full back-down mode, on all fronts.

Cuban Missile Crisis Redux.

This is troubling to say the least.

…Not an academic with pencil and papers….

Nikita Khrushchev is laughing in his grave.

Apparently the Obama plan to distract our enemies for 4 years with uproarious laughter at his ineptitude isn’t working out.

this is more an escalation of the tensions that were started under Bush

Actually, the tensions started under Clinton. In fact, the Russians were apoplectic when Clinton made war on their cousins the Serbs. Clinton then promised them a strong post-war role. When the time came, he totally stiffed them. That made them even madder. That’s why the Russians are screwing with us.

It’s true that Bush never helped the situation, especially when he established military bases in the former Soviet central asian posessions, supported the nationhood of Kosovo and proposed to base an anti-missile defense in Poland.

Bush never corrected the situation but the real damage was done by Bill Clinton.

With all the talk about the economy it seems that several items from the news have gone unnoticed or at least under reported.
First, it seems that Russia took our “gift” of a reset button and used it…to reset the date to 1962.  They …

Thats a bit of a stretch.

ernesto on March 15, 2009 at 2:07 PM

It is a bit of a stretch. We certainly have those positions filled and I would wager the people in those positions have led directly to the moves by Russia, Venezuela, and Cuba.

“It’s important for us to keep perspective about their capabilities,” he said.

“When they complained about our escorting their Blackjack bombers to Venezuela, I wanted to say that we just wanted to be along there for search and rescue if they needed it.”