16 thoughts on “The Legacy Of “Reset””

  1. Why the surprise? The old Soviet Union was just the former Czarist Russia with a new coat of paint. Have had their short break of Spring Russia is going back to its comfortable old ways.

  2. We are not in any position to stop Putin. Expect the near abroad to be reacquired. The Ukraine is the big target. They want those ports and a friendly Turkey to go with.

  3. There’s a vast difference from being surprised by an outcome and supporting the policies that assisted the outcome. To this day, I have no idea what was meant by the magical “reset” button. At what point in the past were the relations be set back to? It was never ever stated. Having a foreign policy that supports Russia returning to Soviet style rule, whether it was destined to do so or not, is dangerous and costly to the US.

    To compare, I’m not surprised that a Democrat is willing to publically call for a suspension of the democratic process. My lack of surprise doesn’t suggest support for the idea. And it does cause me to question if said Democrat is trying to turn our nation into a land of central control with limited means of the citizenry to control sovereignty. My question may lead to an answer of its just a joke. But in the case of Russia, it’s not a joke, and ignoring the implications is foolish.

  4. On the other hand, a renewed Russia will probably try to prove its technical superiority via space, first returning to the Moon, then going on to their age old goal of Mars.

    Maybe we will need the new heavy lift system after all…

    Apollo II anyone 🙂

  5. We need a President that isn’t afraid to punch Putin square in the nuts. Where’s Zombie Reagan when you need him?

  6. Putin is doing what Obama thinks about doing. They really are birds of a feather. Putin is just more butch.

  7. It’s not my fault those are his views on a first strike… Take it up with Gov. Perry. But I wouldn’t worry, the way he is falling in the polls be probably won’t make it past NH. He has had his day of fame on the top.

  8. Interesting, I see three things wrong with your assertion, Thomas. First, Perry doesn’t make any statement about preemptive nuclear strikes. His examples were too small to warrant a nuclear strike. Second, he discusses provocation. Merely, being another country is not sufficient to draw a preemptive military strike. He discusses an “enemy” which threatens to strike in turn the US “at home”. It’s rather vague, but this does lead to a reasonable pretext for preemptive military action (and justifying the use of the word “preemptive”).

    Third, completely ruling out a preemptive nuclear strike under any situation devalues the US nuclear threat considerably. For example, if an enemy considers a massive invasion of the US, then a preemptive nuclear strike either eliminating their military capability or merely inflicting catastrophic damage on whatever the US can hit, has to be one of their concerns.

  9. Not exactly, but it’s certainly rehashing old themes. Shockingly Thomas Matula has made a very accurate observation, the Soviet Union was as much a continuation of previous Czarist tendencies than it was a break with the past. Most communist governments were and are indeed little more than modernized versions of aristocracy without the pretext of hereditary-based class divisions.

  10. The problem Obama has with Perry’s comments is that what Perry stated as a policy justifies Libya, and also drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. By the way, anyone see those nuclear mushroom clouds over Libya? Me neither.

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