Putin Aggression Blamed on
Snowden
Vladimir Putin is massing troops and equipment along Russia's common border
with the Ukraine. The US-EU meeting verbally assailed the Russian for two days
from the Netherlands before Barack Obama continued working on his social
calendar.
Thus it appears the Russian leader will get away with his next move as well
with little more than sanctions being levied against senior officials in his
inner circle. But there is a curious development among the talking heads like
former VP Richard Cheney and Fox News Analysts Charles Krauthammer, Karl Rove
and Col. (ret.) Ralph Peters. That quartet is not putting the onus for this
debacle on the globe-trotting Obama and his blind eye but Edward Snowden.
You remember Snowden. He is the hired contractor that copied thousands of
National Security Agency files, told the world about the illicit spying program
on Americans and world leaders alike and has been on the run ever since.
Cheney wants Snowden "to return voluntarily to the U.S. to stand trial for
execution for treason in a time of war." Krauthammer wants "Snowden to be
returned either by a government deal or voluntarily so he can be given a proper
execution." Rove wants Snowden "to return so he can stand trial for
treason and other high crimes against the United States." (He hasn't said so
but a guilty verdict would mean either execution or life imprisonment.) Col.
Peters this morning absolved Obama of his culpability by saying, "This (Putin's
aggression) is all Snowden's fault. If he hadn't revealed we were listening in
on the communications, we would have known all about Putin's plans. Snowden
deserves to be targeted for his treason."
This attitude is merely an attempt at saving their own necks by Cheney,
Rove and Peters. These bozos were the men in charge who benefited from the
illicit spy program at the NSA before Obama's first election. Obama himself has
denounced the spying on Americans, which he had to do by the Bill of Rights,
even though his Administration has done nothing to slow down the spying on
"ordinary American people" but only on other world leaders.
Lack of response to Putin's action is a telling blow to the socialist
view held for so long in the world and a real blow to Americans' faith their
duly-elected government would 'act in their best interests.' You can't trade
liberties for safety. You wind up with neither.
Krauthammer's position is a bit different. Normally a staunch defender of
the Constitution and a conservative leader, the only explanation for his odd
position is the activity started--publicly--under Bush and therefore he is
defending his Commander in Chief.
All those arguments are bogus however. Snowden did every American a service
when he revealed the NSA's secretive, massive information gathering. Those who
would use the defense it 'saved American lives" are talking through their hats.
If the system was actually working as stated, the Boston Marathon bombing would
not have happened.
There were so many red flags raised (including a warning from Putin's
Administration) but ignored, the whole NSA should have been scrapped and the
entire leadership personnel put on trial for 'dereliction of duty in a time of
war' immediately. But every shred of evidence presented thus far on 'saved
American lives' shows all of those tips evolved at the NSA from information
provided by other countries. The NSA defenders have not given one instance where
NSA-developed information alone saved any American's life.
There is a lie there somewhere and the vehemence with which these four and
their ilk assail Snowden is another example of the good-old-boy network inside
the Beltway. Regrets to all, but that is no defense only an indictment. They are
once again trying to shift the focus from the failings of the current
Administration so not to seem to be piling on and have their own missteps
recounted'.
This fiasco with Russia is eerily similar to the lack of response to
Hitler's Germany when it began annexing bits of Czechoslovakia back in the 30s
because 'the large German population needed protection. Europe, again, is
waiting for someone else to act. Unfortunately Obama is living in a world where
action against a spirited foe is taboo and can be replaced by a flood of words
which will suffice to change any mindset.
That policy did not work 80 years ago and it won't work now. Putin won't
stop at the Crimea or even all of the Ukraine. He wants Latvia, Estonia,
Lithuania, Finland and every other scrap of land the Russians
once controlled.
The weak sanctions response, the torrent of words being recorded in the
Netherlands and the walk-off shrug following the apparently angry outbursts,
will do nothing but convince Putin he can do it again--just like Hitler
did.
Words cannot replace or restore force. China is watching, Iran is watching.
North Korea is watching. Other despots around the globe are watching as
well.
Gog, Magog and the tribes of Gomer are awake and moving. The time for
placing blame is past. What are we going to do next?
We have an Administration that eagerly jumps into a civil war in the
jungles of Uganda to seek a warlord nobody has seen in eight years but cannot
identify a real foe right in open. Instead it spends $76 million dollars to this
regime just to get an American into space because it has dismantled our own
space program for coveted social programs.
Here's an idea for America leadership. Dismantle the NSA, put the funds
into restoring our leadership in space and quit stealing money from working
Americans to support those opting for the social programs' benefits.
Snowden is not to blame for our current ineffectiveness. Our elected
officials are. That means We, the People...We, the Electorate, are the ones to
blame for the current mess. We were asleep at the switch, trading liberties for
perceived security offered up behind a beguiling smile and face with a charming
line of patter that means nothing to the rest of the world because they saw
through the mask during the first 'World Apology Tour.'
"I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility
to every form of tyranny over the mind of man."--Thomas
Jefferson
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