3.9.14: Who's Teaching Whom?

President Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken and Congressman Peter King (R-NY) both explained on today's program that the United States should impose 'iron-clad' sanctions on Russia and freeze the assets of the oligarchs that run the country.  But you know who's not on board with this strategy?  Andrea Mitchell pointed out that Germany and U.S. corporations are hesitant about this strategy.  For Germany, we understand because Russia is a major trading partner for them and a lot of natural gas from Russia is exported to Germany.  However, for U.S. corporations, all we can say is, "Suck it up."

Is the United States run by its corporations?  The answer is [should be] no, but what does it say that of ourselves as Americans that our corporations have so much influence on U.S. foreign policy?  If you consider that our Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are essentially people and these 'people' with all the money have influence over the foreign policy of the U.S. government, we would call those people - you guessed it - oligarchs.

It was good to hear Mr. Blinken say that the president has been working the phones with foreign leaders over the weekend because this is really where it counts.  The United States is not going to get into an actually war with Russia, but the aggression Putin's government has exercised in Crimea can not stand.  All this means is that President Obama needs to get everyone on board with the idea of isolating Russia economically.  Energy supplies are the most significant point of leverage, as we know, and the United States should bully its way to a larger share of the European energy market, pushing Russia aside.  This along with sanctions would have a real impact on Russia's bullying behavior.

However, one very troubling development in this crisis is the upcoming referendum Crimea is having as to whether or not to break from the Ukraine and join Russia.  Mr. Blinken rightly said that the United States would not recognize the outcome if the people of the Crimean region decided to join the Russian Federation, which they technically can not do because they are part of the Ukraine, point of fact.  But where does that leave things.  Is the Ukraine going to throw itself into civil war where Ukrainian troops are basically fighting a war with Russia?  Given what Mr. Blinken said, the United States would side with Ukraine, which put the U.S. directly into the conflict.  The United States
 
Senior Political Columnist and Editorial Director at the National Journal Ron Fournier asked the best question - where is the United States intelligence community (C.I.A./ N.S.A.) in all this?  With all the uproar about the N.S.A.'s capability to listen to everyone's conversations, you mean to tell us that no general in Russia made a phone call to tell the troops where to go?  The United States has the capability to act proactively, but it seems that they can only be reactive and as long as they are in that position, they'll not be able to stem Russia's aggressive moves.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan called Pope Francis a good teacher because he gets us asking questions that we don't necessarily know the answers to.  By that rationale, Mr. Putin has been a good teacher to the United States because he definitely has the administration asking questions.  As Mr. Fournier mentioned, the United States government needs to see Mr. Putin as he is (judging him by his actions) instead of how they expect him to be.  It's now painfully evident that Mr. Putin's government doesn't shared any of the same attitudes as the Obama Administration on anything foreign policy related.  As Mr. Gregory reported, Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin are talking past one another. 

Even though Mr. Reed had unequivocal criticism of President Obama in the way he's handling the situation in the Ukraine, he said there are no real answers.  Then he went on to say that the president's option are indeed limited but what ever option he goes with, he must project strength.  As unhelpful and empty as Mr. Reed's criticism was, the strength will come from the United States rallying its allies and friends - it's the only way.  

While we're commenting on Mr. Reed's statements, we understand him to be a man of faith.  After all, he is the Chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, but given that, we just can not put him in the same pious category as Pope Francis, or Cardinal Timothy Dolan for that matter.  Mr. Reed expressed that the poor is the center of the gospel and the Republicans' message needs to include them.  Fair enough but if you consider that the Republicans voted to cut food stamps for the poor while maintaining agribusiness subsidies, one would conclude evidence to the contrary.  Also Mr. Reed, with his statements and body language, comes off completely disingenuous to us, as evidenced when he untruthfully said that most millennials are pro-life, when 6 in 10 are in fact pro-choice.

And to not just call Mr. Reed's credibility into question, we have to call attention to something Cardinal Dolan said about his interpretation of what Pope Francis is trying to do while leading the Catholic Church.  He said that the Pope was trying to restore the luster of the Church, to bring back the romanticism and the mystery.  What?  

That's what he wants, but it's a complete misreading of what we've seen of this pope's actions and statements where he has expressed openness, compassion and contrition.  'Mystery,' Cardinal Dolan, translates into 'lack of transparency' which means 'stop asking questions.' Mystery is what got the Church into trouble in the first place, and yes, they should be singled out for their actions contrary to what the Cardinal said.  After all, they profess to be teachers, teachers of the word of God.

Jeez...


Round Table: California Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass; Chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Ralph Reed; Senior Political Columnist and Editorial Director at the National Journal, Ron Fournier; and NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell.