The invasion of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine by Russia on Friday, February 28th represents a clear and dangerous challenge to European peace and stability and the international rule of law.
This challenge to international law is a direct result of the failed foreign policy of a weak United States President who imposes "lines in the sand" and then turns around and runs away with his tail between his legs whenever any of his lines is crossed.
This cowardly action on the part of the current American Administration has emboldened powerful tyrants and despots around the world. The only time the current American President shows a stiff spine is when he is siccing the IRS and other executive tools against the very American people whose civil rights and liberty he is supposed to be protecting.
From a vacillating President, whose domestic policy is as much a shambles and train wreck as his foreign policy, we have a weakened American military which may be unable to adequately protect American interests and defend American allies.
Now is the time of decision. The President must act quickly, he must act decisively and he must act forcefully. Diplomatic solutions are ineffective with those who would use force to achieve their aims, unless they have already succeeded in those aims.
The worst that could happen is for the American President to do nothing except express grave concerns and spout unnamed "consequences" for the actions of those who would flout world peace and stability. To do nothing now only will embolden and encourage dictators, despots and tyrants around the world. Syria's Assad, North Korea's Kim, Iran, China and terrorist groups around the world may all be emboldened and encouraged to seek aggression to achieve their aims.
The President must act quickly. He must act decisively and he must act forcefully. These three aspects are outside the character of the American President who usually chooses to vacillate, to appease and then to turn tail whenever he is directly challenged. But the President must find it somewhere within himself to act, for now is the time for deliberate and forceful action.
The Russian President must be made aware that world tolerance for this type of behavior on the part of a great power will not be tolerated. Therefore, I propose the following actions to be taken immediately: 1. Cancellation of the G8 Summit in Sochi to be relocated to Paris or London and reconstituted as a G7 Summit. 2. Send elements of the 101st Air Assault and 102nd Airborne to Kiev. 3. Request the Polish President to request American anti-air and Patriot missile batteries to the border between Poland and Russia. 4. Send Patriot and anti-air batteries to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine to be replaced with permanent anti-aircraft and anti-missile batteries at some point in the future. 5. Send U.S. naval forces to shadow Russian fleet movements in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, off the Atlantic seaboard of the United States and in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. 6. Freeze Russian assets in United States banks, the World Bank and the IMF. 7. Convene the UN Security Council to deliver a strong denunciation of Russian actions in Ukraine. 8. Call NATO to consider troop allocations and deployment within Europe and Turkey in light of the Russian aggression.
These steps are incremental, limited and deliberate. They constitute a forceful response to the Russian invasion in Crimea and all of these except for creating the East European missile shield are open to negotiation between Russia and the western powers.
By showing restraint coupled with the limited steps I have proposed, Russia will need to negotiate. The future of Crimea must be left to the people of Crimea and Ukraine, it cannot be and must not be allowed to be decided by a malevolent dictator bent on the forceful acquisition of a peaceful people. Russian troops must roll back to the bases within Russia, and 150,000 Russian troops on the border of Ukraine must return to their bases. The steps I have herein proposed will help assure that these measures occur.
The American President must act. To do nothing now will only encourage those around the world to use force to achieve their aims. They will be opposed by those who have the courage to oppose but who may not have the might to do so. This would lead to war. The American President must act quickly, decisively and forcefully now because to do nothing could very well lead to the beginning of World War Three.
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