CNN Finally Admits Romney Was Right

Vladimir Putin has always had designs on his neighbors; he’s never been unclear about wanting to grab back the states that he believes belonged in the Soviet Union, that he viewed should now be part of the Russian empire — under his control. We’ve seen him make moves in the past to satisfy that ambition, so it should never be a surprise to anyone. His timing was the only thing that was in doubt. He also had to decide if he felt it was right. We reported that he did this on Wednesday.

Joe Biden, the Democrats and others changed an equation that was previously insurmountable for him. He witnessed the Afghanistan debacle and Biden’s inexplicable lifting of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 to make Germany smile, but he didn’t understand how that could signal to Putin. He also saw him increase our dependence on Russian oil while reducing our energy independence. He saw Biden say minor incursions weren’t going to mean anything.

Biden was also able to see that Biden would not consider any military responses. The most significant part of the whole was that last one. Putin knew that he didn’t have to be afraid of the West, and could therefore move. Even if you don’t want to put boots on the ground, you don’t out and out say that as Biden did, repeatedly. Even after Putin declared the two regions of Ukraine as independent nations — a prelude to invasion as I said the other day — Biden’s response was the weakest possible sanction response; sanctions that would probably hurt us more than Putin. He even held back lethal aid for the Ukrainians to help defend themselves — yes, it was Biden who held those back, not President Donald Trump. So Putin — the KGB guy — knew he had a pigeon on his hands, a guy who had been wrong on everything foreign policy-related for the past forty years. Putin understood that the right time to act was now.

Now, CNN has come around to an interesting conclusion in an “analysis” from Chris Cillizza: that Mitt Romney was right about the threat from Russia.

“Russia, this is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe,” Romney, who would be the Republican presidential nominee in the 2012 race against President Barack Obama, told Wolf Blitzer in March of that year. “They — they fight every cause for the world’s worst actors.”

Obama and his crew pounced upon the comment. They claimed that Romney’s comments showed that he was completely out of touch regarding the threat facing the US.

Obama made that comment during the October 2012 third presidential debate. “When you were asked, ‘What’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America,’ you said ‘Russia.’ Not al Qaeda; you said Russia,” Obama said. “And, the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”

Cillizza notes something that many may now forget — what specifically Romney was talking about when he made that comment. He was talking about Obama’s comment that was caught on a hot mic to then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (who was Putin’s creature).

Obama told Medvedev: “This is my last election. And after my election, I have more flexibility.” What was Medvedev’s response? “I’ll transmit that to Vladimir.”

We saw what that “flexibility” wrought when Putin walked into Crimea without any significant pushback. We’re now seeing the backend of it, under Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s Vice President. Putin knew that there would be no significant response from Biden because he’d already been told and seen Obama’s response; he’d already seen Afghanistan. He knew everything he could expect from Biden — weak sanctions — and he was not put off by that. He didn’t know what President Donald Trump would do, he saw Trump’s strength, he saw that Trump was not afraid to drop bombs on the heads of Russian contractors in Syria, he saw Trump unafraid to blast back at our enemies when faced with a threat. That’s why he moved under Obama and Biden, and not under Trump. It works. “Flexibility” and “minor incursions” do not.

Also, we note that Obama played an important role in weakening Ukraine. He convinced them not only to drop their nuclear weapons but also conventional weapons and offered protection under the Budapest Memorandum. That didn’t mean much to Obama when it came down to it and it didn’t mean much to the feckless Biden since he wouldn’t even come through with lethal aid to Ukraine.

The Russians may, however, find that while Biden and the EU are generally feckless in trying to back him off, if they try to occupy Ukraine or install a puppet government, they’re going to face a stiff and consistent underground resistance.

Two other points should be made: Putin’s designs are not limited to Ukraine. And the rest of Romney’s remarks in 2012. “It is always Russia, typically with China alongside.” China is watching. Just as Putin watched Biden’s weakness in Afghanistan, China is also watching and thinking about their ambitions. People in Taiwan today should be very worried about this. Based on the information that was accidentally released by Chinese media yesterday, we already saw an indicator of this.

“In the future, China will also need Russia’s understanding and support when wrestling with America to solve the Taiwan issue once and for all,” his post read. Ming said that it “doesn’t hurt” to use moderately pro-Russia language.

One final thought. One final thought. Romney was correct about Russia’s threat and China is also right. But CNN and other liberal media didn’t care about that at the time, because it was more important to mock that and support Obama. This admission is a little late. It’s also after they had a hand in helping put in office the feckless Biden whose weakness has also led to this. It was Romney, Never Trump and Democrats who made it possible for what has happened to Trump today through their media efforts. Trump understood that Russia signing the deal for the pipeline would reduce that strength, as I pointed out Wednesday.

#TrumpAt #NATOSummit2018“It’s sad that Germany has made a huge oil and gas agreement with Russia. You’re supposed be protecting against Russia.” pic.twitter.com/zUT44I4bjg

— Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (@RFERL) July 11, 2018

Trump had held Putin’s ambitions off for years because of his strength (despite the false claim that media and Democrats fed that he was a stooge). Every one of those Never Trumpers, Democrats, and yes, Romney, too, should be looking at the result of their actions now because their actions have not only made everything worse for us in this country, they’ve made it worse for the safety and the peace of the world.

This is what “flexibility” has wrought.