Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Clinton/Obama Foreign Policy Failures in Review, Part 2, Russian Reset



Ok, chronologically, this probably should have come before the Honduran coup, but in reality the effects of this simple, yet relevant, mistake would become symbolic of Hillary Clinton's role in implementing Barack Hussein Obama's failed foreign policy far into the future.

The Russian reset fiasco is often referred to in the MSM as a funny mistake by Hillary Clinton that was easily and quickly smoothed over by her sense of humor. I can assure it was no joke and that set the tone for how Russia, Putin in particular, would perceive the Clinton/Obama reign of failure as it pertains to Russia.

Here is the now famous clip from the seemingly innocuous event:



Cringe worthy, is it not? Imagine the wrath she invoked behind the scenes after this funny little faux pas. Ok, beyond imagining Hillary throwing a lamp or book at the poor bureaucrat translator who screwed this up, what do you think Russia walked away from this little event thinking?

Well, apparently Russian media poked fun at Hillary Clinton's "mistake" with Russian newspaper Kommersant declaring on its front page: "Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton push the wrong button."

Though it concerns me that the U.S. State Department apparently did not employ a competent Russian translator, to me it paints a much larger picture of incompetence. I'll admit, Condoleezza Rice set the bar pretty high, given her expertise in Russian affairs and fluency in the Russian language, but screwing up on this big of a stage on your very first meeting goes beyond just mere embarrassment.   It reveals a level of incompetence to the Russians that stoked confidence in their belief that Barack Hussein Obama was a light-weight empty suit and would he and Hillary Clinton would be easily manipulated.

They would go on to prove this over the next 4 years 
in conflict after conflict. I would argue it will continue will under John Kerry's (who served in Vietnam) term through the 2017 inauguration.  When I get to Kerry/Obama's failures I'll make the case the the foreign policy will take a definite turn for the worse from incompetent-but-aloof bad to down-right-dangerous bad.  But, that's for another day.

Again, this was not only an early indicator of the Clinton/Obama foreign policy failures to come, but acted as a glaring example to the Russian leaders that they were going to be dealing with complete incompetence for the foreseeable future.  We see the result of this simple act of incompetence embolden Putin as he tacks his foreign policy into direct conflict with U.S. interests time and time again.  

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