Russia is Betting Big on President Obama

Why is Russia suddenly so active? Invading Georgia, increasing their naval presence in the Mediterranean via Syrian ports, all of a sudden they are making some moves on the global board. My prediction is this will continue, albeit in a muted way, for the rest of the Bush presidency. They'll display some brinksmanship, back off now and then when necessary, and they will wait for comments by our two candidates. When it's McCain, they will overreact, call him dangerous. When it's Obama, they will very subtly demonstrate a willingness to hear him out. It will have to be subtle, because they can't be overtly pro-Obama, that would kill his candidacy. But if Obama can show that he has a gift with the Russians, he will appear to be the great statesman that this country "needs" to bring about cooperation around the world. If, Heaven forbid, he becomes president, watch for the Russians to start pulling some stunts and then accuse Obama of being "like Bush" if he overreacts.

Who's fault is this? Why, Obama's, of course. It is he who is setting up the idea that America has been too aggressive, that he must take the reigns of "change," to change the course of the country that Bush & Cheney have steered into such dangerous waters. Obama is going to have to deal with the fact that if he becomes president (it hurts just to think of it), he is going to have to answer to the leaders of these nations that he says he will talk to, as they say, "Yes, we agree Bush was a bad president. Now how are you going to make up to us for it?" He will have to back down in the international arena, or bend over backwards to get the wide consensus that he says we need for everything we want to do, as Russia, Iran, Venezuela, et al, have a field day with his "I'm sorry for my country's bad behavior, world" attitude.

Why does Barack Obama not recognize that when America acts in the world, it is to further the cause of liberty and freedom? It is not for oil. We don't have Iraqi oil. The price of oil has gone up since the Iraq war started- if we were pumping their oil into our own gas tanks then the price would have gone down. When Russia acts, as in Georgia, it is clearly for oil, it is for control of the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline. When we act, people in Iraq hold up an ink-stained finger signalling that they voted, that they stood on line to vote when the terrorists were threatening to blow them up while they did so.