Vladamir Putin

Eleven Foreign Policy Presidential Elections In American History, And Now 2016!

America has had foreign policy affect eleven Presidential elections, overshadowing domestic policy issues. This has usually been centered about military intervention and wars. The list of foreign policy dominated Presidential elections follows:

1812—With the War of 1812 having begun, it became the major issue under President James Madison

1844—With the issue of Texas annexation a major issue, and with James K. Polk running on expansionism and “Manifest Destiny”, the issue of relations with Mexico became a major issue under John Tyler and Polk.

1848—With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the Mexican War under James K. Polk granting so much new territory to the United States, the issue of what to do with these territories became the major issue of the campaign.

1900—With the Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish American War under William McKinley granting new territories to the United States, the issue of what do to with those territories reigned during the campaign, and the Filipino Insurrection was a hot issue as well.

1916–The issue of keeping America out of World War I dominated, with Woodrow Wilson campaigning on the fact that he had kept us out of the war.

1940—The issue of isolationism and World War II in Europe and Asia, and Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigning on keeping us out of war, but offering some assistance to Great Britain, dominated the campaign.

1944—The fact that we were still in World War II, and what to do about the postwar world and the Soviet Union, were key issues of the campaign.

1952—The debate over what to do about the limited nature of the Korean War under Harry Truman was a major factor in this campaign which elected Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1968—The debate over the Vietnam War under Lyndon B. Johnson, and the resulting split in the Democratic Party, and Richard Nixon declaring he had a secret plan to end the war, dominated the discussion in the campaign.

2004—The Iraq War and Afghanistan War under George W. Bush dominated the discussion in this campaign, as September 11 transformed the issue of national security.

2008—The continued intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan became a major issue, along with the Great Recession emerging during the campaign, and benefited Barack Obama, who promised to end the war in Iraq and downgrade the war in Afghanistan.

Now 2016 seems likely to be centered much more than many people want over foreign policy, particularly the threat of Iran in the Middle East, along with the danger of ISIL (ISIS) Terrorism, and the growing menace of the Russian Federation under Vladamir Putin, overall adding to the image of growing threats to national security.

And in these circumstances, one needs a steady hand at the helm, and only Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden have the experience and the judgment needed, along with Jon Huntsman, who, although listed by many as a long shot nominee for the Republicans, has indicated he is not a candidate. In any case, the Republicans are not smart enough to realize that the true treasure in their midst is Jon Huntsman!

Barack Obama Since The Midterm Defeat: Finally Asserting His Executive Powers, A La TR, FDR And Other Outstanding Presidents!

Since the defeat of the Democrats in the Midterm Elections of 2014, Barack Obama has changed his whole manner and approach to governing.

Obama is now asserting himself, via his executive powers, a la Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other outstanding Presidents.

In less than two months, Obama has done the following, all significant initiatives:

Declared his support for internet neutrality, meaning federal regulation of the internet.

Reached a momentous climate deal with China, to reduce greenhouse gases.

Issued an executive order protecting up to five million undocumented immigrants from deportation, and protecting families from being broken apart.

Established regulations through the Environmental Protection Agency to limit ozone emissions.

Promoted new sanctions on Russia and Vladamir Putin for their intervention in Ukraine, crippling the Russian economy in a massive way.

Accomplished the confirmation of over 90 nominees to executive branch and judicial branch appointments, including the Surgeon General, held off for almost a year.

Normalized relations with Cuba, with the help of Canada and Pope Francis, and the support of some Republicans, including Jeff Flake of Arizona and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

To have accomplished so much in such a short time, despite his party’s defeat in November, makes Barack Obama well situated to make his mark in the last two years, free of any controls, other than the Constitution and the precedents set by his predecessors in the White House!

Barack Obama: Who Is Our 44th President?

The attacks on Barack Obama, our 44th President, have reached a point of being totally ridiculous and preposterous in so many ways!

Critics say Obama is a Muslim, even though he never attended services at a mosque, and has called himself a Christian. Meanwhile, he has had America war against terrorist Muslims, and has used drones and troops to kill more Muslims than George W. Bush, including Osama Bin Laden!

Critics say Obama is a weak President, who has been unwilling to confront Vladamir Putin and defend Ukraine, while George W. Bush did not confront Putin on military action in Georgia in 2008; Lyndon B. Johnson did not confront the old Soviet Union on military action in Czechoslovakia in 1968; and Dwight D. Eisenhower did not confront the old Soviet Union on military action in Hungary in 1956.

Critics say that Obama is an “Emperor” or “King” because of action on immigration reform, but this is the same President they have said is “weak”, and when Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and all of the other Republican and Democratic Presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower took action on immigration, none of them were called “Emperor” or “King”. So Obama is a “weak” President who is also an “Emperor” or “King”?

Critics say Obama is a Socialist, but Obama accepted the Newt Gingrich–Bob Dole–Heritage Foundation–Mitt Romney concept of health care, when he pushed for “ObamaCare”, which gives private insurance companies full control over health care when many Democrats and liberals and progressives really want “Medicare for all”.

Critics say Obama is anti capitalist, but Obama has tied himself to Wall Street much more than many Democrats and liberals and progressives wish he had, and the stock market is at an all time high, up about 250 percent from when he came in.

Critics say Obama is adding more to the national debt than anyone, forgetting he came in at the lowest point in 75 years, and that much of the new debt was an outgrowth of the disastrous George W. Bush economic policies that would have added the same to the national debt if John McCain and Mitt Romney had been elected President.

Critics say that Obama refused to work with the opposition party, but NO President EVER had such obstructionism as Barack Obama has had, and Republican Presidents, in particular, have found that opposition Democrats, while challenging them, NEVER promoted total lack of cooperation as the extremist right wing Republicans, led by the Tea Party Movement, have done over the past six years. Despite that, Obama has presided over a long list of accomplishments.

Critics blame Obama for the loss of seats in Congress in midterm elections, when ALL Presidents have faced that, except Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934. Harry Truman in 1946, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, Bill Clinton in 1994, George W. Bush in 2006, and now, Barack Obama in 2014, have seen the opposition party gain control of both houses of Congress. Also, FDR in 1938, Truman in 1950, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958, John F. Kennedy in 1962, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, Richard Nixon in 1970, Gerald Ford in 1974, Jimmy Carter in 1978, Ronald Reagan in 1982, George H. W. Bush in 1990, and Barack Obama in 2010 lost seats, and in the case of Obama, control of the House of Representatives.

These are just eight ways in which the critics of Obama are manipulating the truth and the facts, and despite all these attacks, Barack Obama stands tall and will look much better in history than his critics wish to concede!

The Disgraceful Dr. Benjamin Carson: Right Wing Extremist Exploiting For His Own Ambitions!

Dr. Benjamin Carson was a renowned neurosurgeon who did miracle work on children, and he should be acknowledged and praised for his medical career.

But now that he has retired, he has emerged as a man who has delusions that he can be the Republican Presidential nominee, despite never having been in public office, and he has joined other African American Republicans, including former Florida Congressman Allen West and 2012 Presidential contender Herman Cain, in turning their backs on the African American community, and advocating extremist right wing views!

Carson first became noticed when he condemned the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, with Obama present to hear his denunciation.

Carson has made outrageous statements, and has employed divisive and incendiary rhetoric, and now works as a commentator on Fox News Channel, and writes a column for the conservative Washington Times.

Carson has said ObamaCare is equivalent of slavery; says “socialized medicine” is adopting Soviet leader Nikolai Lenin’s strategy to control the people; has compared same sex marriage to pedophilia; has said white liberals are the most racist group in America; has praised Russian leader Vladamir Putin for his tough stand on homosexuality; and has attacked the Darwinian theory of evolution and climate change.

A man with such views should not be taken seriously by anyone, but with the fluid situation in the Republican Party, who knows if Carson could emerge as a serious contender?

But there is no possibility of Carson ever being President, even if somehow he emerged as the Republican Presidential nominee, so do not put betting money on such an unlikely scenario!

The “Man Up!” Attack Against Barack Obama In Foreign Policy Totally Outrageous!

The Republican Party and conservatives will stop at nothing to attack Barack Obama in every way possible, including the accusation that he is weak in foreign policy, and that he needs to “man up!”, in relation to Vladamir Putin and the Ukraine Crisis; and also the problems with the Syrian Civil War and the Iran Nuclear negotiations.

If you left it up to “neocons”, neoconservatives who took us into the wrong headed Iraq War, we would be going to war against Russia, sending ground troops in Syria, and bombing Iran! Meanwhile, most of this group have never been in the military, have never fought under war conditions, but are very willing to send young men and women into harm’s way, and have little concern about what happens to them when they come home from war, physically or psychologically harmed, and cannot gain adequate services from the Department of Veterans Affairs!

This is total insanity, that a President who took out Osama Bin Laden, and has been steadfast in his willingness to use whatever means necessary to fight terrorism and Al Qaeda, is accused of being weak, refusing to get us involved in more ground wars that cannot be won in realistic terms!

Why is it that we never heard “Man Up!” toward the following Presidents and foreign policy crises:

Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Hungarian Crisis of 1956
Lyndon B. Johnson and the Czechoslovakian Crisis of 1968
Lyndon B. Johnson and the Pueblo Crisis with North Korea in 1968
Ronald Reagan and the Withdrawal of Marines from Lebanon after the Beirut Marine Barrack Bombing in 1983
George W. Bush and the Georgian Crisis of 2008

Why is it that things are different now, when all Presidents have challenges similar to what Obama faces, but are treated with more respect and deference? I think the answer is simple, and needs not to be said, but understood to be reality!

The Disgraceful Franklin Graham And Ralph Reed

Franklin Graham is disgraceful as the supposed successor of his dad, the Reverend Billy Graham, who is now 95 years of age.

Franklin Graham is extremely anti Islamic, labeling everyone in the faith as a potential terrorist, and unwilling to work toward reconciliation with the vast number of Muslims who are NOT terrorists, millions of them living in the United States, and facing discrimination that is undeserved.

Additionally, Franklin Graham is extremely anti gay, and applauds Russian leader Vladamir Putin on his nation’s anti gay legislation, failing to understand that gays are being threatened and victimized in ways similar to what happened to them in Nazi Germany. He has absolutely no tolerance or willingness to give gays and lesbians the equal rights in law and social treatment that all Americans are supposed to be guaranteed under the Bill of Rights!

It was good to see ABC News journalist Cokie Roberts challenge Graham on THIS WEEK this past Sunday, and she also did a service by exposing the hypocrisy of Ralph Reed, formerly of the Christian Coalition of Pat Robertson, and now of the Faith And Freedom Coalition, who claimed that gays are not fit to be parents, and that they harm children by adoption, when there is absolutely no such evidence. Reed is a nasty man, a person of doubtful ethical character himself, having engaged in political finance scandals, and demonstrating very right wing views tinged with religious hypocrisy toward women, as well as gays and lesbians.

Graham and Reed are two religious activists worthy of condemnation by those who believe in fairness and justice!

Eleven Years Since Greatest Blunder In Modern American History: The Iraq War!

Eleven years ago today, America went to war in Iraq on the false premise that there were weapons of mass destruction there, which did not exist!

It is clear that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld KNEW that fact, but they convinced Colin Powell to speak before the United Nations on a lie that he was not privy to, took advantage of his far greater stature than any of them had!

The Iraq War led to 4,400 American dead, and over 30,000 wounded, with many losing limbs or part of their skull, and many having mental and emotional trauma which continues today!

It led to the longest war in American history, except for the Afghanistan War, which was put on the back burner, and still goes on today, making both wars total failures, but another 2,000 killed in that war.

It did not create a stable Iraq, but killed at least many hundreds of thousands in Iraq, if not a million or more.

We spent a lot of treasure, helping to double the national debt under the Bush-Cheney regime.

We allowed ourselves to engage in war with Iraq, when Iran was the much bigger threat, and remains so in 2014.

We also gave the excuse for Vladamir Putin of Russia to invade and take over Crimea, as allowed under international law, because, after all, we had claimed the right to invade a sovereign nation in a war of choice, a preemptive war, making us no better than past aggressors, who attacked without a direct provocation.

Many feel that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld are international outlaws, and it is clear that if it were possible to arrest them, they could be tried on human rights abuse at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, the Netherlands!

Of course, that will not happen in reality, but this is not something that should be overlooked as an example of what happens when the wrong people are put into power, particularly with the reality that George W. Bush did not win the popular vote in the Presidential Election of 2000, but won the court case that was decided on party line vote in the Supreme Court, a majority which had been picked by Republican Presidents!

History will not judge the Bush Presidency well, and no matter what the Republican Party of 2014 does to sweep the past under the rug, the truth will win out, and it will not be pretty!

John McCain, Lindsey Graham, And NEOCON Hawks: Total Lunatics!

Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina seem ready to have America involved in another major war in Ukraine, as if we do not have enough loss of treasure and life in Iraq and Afghanistan already!

Thank goodness that McCain was not elected President in 2008, and with moron Sarah Palin by his side, a heartbeat away, as we would have been engaged with troops on the ground in Libya, Syria, and Iran, along with staying in Iraq and Afghanistan, under a man who thinks war solves issues, and that America has no limits on military spending!

Lindsey Graham is always at McCain’s side, ready to bomb and attack, while very willing to cut spending for the poor and the elderly, and it makes one wonder how he sleeps at night!

But this is the Neocons at work, destroying our budget and our unity, in their mad dash to impose America’s will, as if this is the Cold War all over again!

The fact is that they refuse to understand that Crimea is to Russia what Mexico is to us, a boundary line that we will defend at all costs. If Mexico became unreliable and a threat to America, we would intervene as Vladamir Putin has in Crimea.

It is not an issue of endorsement of Putin and Russia, but rather an issue of Crimea being their “back yard”, and there is no way that Russia will allow an unfriendly Crimea, where a majority are Russian ethnically, to be hostile to Russian interests.

This is nothing new in history, and considering the numerous examples of US intervention since World War II. some of them justified and many NOT justified, who are we to dictate to other nations on the safety of their borders?

So it is a question of reality, not morals and ethics!

The Sad Reality About Ukraine: History Against Military Intervention!

The right wing is already busy at work attacking President Obama, regarding the decision of Russian leader Vladamir Putin to intervene militarily in Ukraine, putting Russian forces in Crimea, the portion of Ukraine with a majority of Russians, and the center of the Black Sea seaport crucial to the Russian navy, and an important “warm water” port for Russia during the long winters in that nation.

All of us can condemn and deplore this event, and be sad about it to the extreme. But it is not at all surprising in reality, as to expect that Russia would allow an anti Russian government, at least in that part of Ukraine, is living in a dream world!

Major nations who have the power and numbers, historically, do NOT allow their neighbors to be unfriendly or rivals of their nation. Every nation pursues a policy in foreign affairs based on its national interest, and what is possible.

This has been part of the reality of America, as well as the old Soviet Union, China, and any other nation, when they have power and influence, and bemoaned when they do not!

The United States has been fortunate enough to have “weak” direct neighbors in Canada and Mexico, and we have been willing to intervene in Mexico when we have not appreciated their governments or policies, as in the 1840s and in the 1910s.

Yes, we have had Mexico as a “problem” at times since, with undocumented immigrants and drug dealings, but at least we have had a friendly government in Mexico, willing to work with us, and on the same page generally on most issues.

The closest we have had to a national security matter is, of course, Cuba, and we went to the brink in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and while the Castro brothers still control that island, even today, they are no direct menace to us, and if they were seen as such, we could still use our power to intervene.

So, looking at that reality, that nations with power will use it for their benefit, to have an non-antagonistic direct neighbor on their border, and with economic advantages also a consideration, along with defense and naval matters, there is, sadly, little we can do about Ukraine, except hope for a minimal involvement in that nation by the Russians, but the thought of a military or nuclear response is totally insane, and could not be utilized!

Keep in mind that President Dwight D. Eisenhower could do nothing about Soviet involvement in its neighbors, Poland, East Germany, and Hungary, and neither could Lyndon B. Johnson do anything about Soviet involvement in Czechoslovakia!

Proper Move For Obama, Mrs. Obama, And Biden To Boycott Sochi Winter Olympics!

It is the proper moral and strategic move for President Obama, Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden to boycott personal attendance at the Sochi, Russia Winter Olympics in February.

The move of the Russian authorities to deny basic rights to their gay population is an outrage which endangers gays individually and in families, and it is the new civil rights movement, and the United Stares rightfully must do everything required to take the proper stand on this violation of human rights.

The abuse of gays and lesbians goes on in many nations, but America must not sit on the sidelines, as it did for a long time on the issue of race, and as it did on the issue of anti semitism, which led to the Holocaust of World War II.

Just as we must speak up on the rights of women, labor, the elderly, children, and the poor, we must not allow any government or religion to think they can win the day as we ignore their violations of basic human rights.

If we only had the ability to decide not to compete in the Olympics as a protest, but Obama has decided that it would penalize athletes, both straight and gay, if we did what Jimmy Carter did regarding the Moscow Olympics in 1980, which was boycotted by the US over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

So instead, the official delegation to the Sochi Olympics will include well known gay athletes as the response to the abuses of human rights by Vladamir Putin. And if it worsens the relationship between Russia and the United States, so be it, as Russia is backing the mass slaughter in Syria, another outrage that we must oppose vehemently and with vigor!

Let us hope that gay athletes win a lot of the medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics, as that would be the ultimate triumph!