So says
Jake Novak at CNBC:
Putin is like a Augusto Pinochet or a Juan Perón … but with much more steely resolve, a massive military, and nuclear bombs.
But even with Putin's extremely visible and frightening track record before us, it's clear the Obama administration and even the investment community is still not prepared for the extent of the damage the Russian leader can unleash on his own people, on his neighbors, and on the U.S. financial markets.
There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal. Vladimir Putin is wounded — and he's not known for holding back.
His entire adventure in Ukraine this year is example of just how destructive and unpredictable Putin can be, and that all happened when oil was still trading at $100 a barrel.
So what could he do now?
For all we know, Putin has already done a lot of the following things, but here's just a partial list:
1. Launch another attack on Ukraine or another neighboring nation
2. Cut off energy supplies to the rest of Europe
3. Launch an all-out cyber war on Western and U.S. companies and government agencies
4. Nationalize foreign-owned or -controlled businesses inside Russia
The question is: do the White House and NATO realize the situation? Does Wall Street?
Despite some political bluster from President Obama after the hostilities began in last spring, I still think we're dealing with an administration that thinks that light sanctions and negotiations will be enough to keep things from getting out of hand. Remember, this is still the president who told Putin's top lieutenant back in early 2012 that he'd have "more flexibility" to deal with Russia "after my re-election." He's also still the president who mocked Mitt Romney during the election for saying Russia was a serious foreign-policy threat. And while John Kerry is now at the helm, this is still the same State Department that thought then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressing a make believe "reset button" was a good — and appropriate — response to a tyrant like Putin.
Given the kind of figure he is, we ought to consider responses to Vlad's last stand. I doubt if he's planning on being taken alive.
What are you saying here, on the brink of sanctions working, that it is not working? Would you rather hear boom boom and watch the blood flow like rivers? Military preemption has worked so well this and last century. For both the Bear and the Eagle.
ReplyDelete"This is a clear example of markets performing a type of function that governments can’t. For the currency markets don’t respond to the same sent of incentives and fears that corporate and government leaders do when it comes to dealing with Putin. They don’t fear Putin’s bluster, since traders are generally anonymous and most foreign institutions now have the excuse of sanctions to avoid doing business in Russia. They don’t need Russia’s natural gas and oil supplies to keep the lights on—Con Edison does a perfectly good job powering New York’s financial markets. They don’t fear his military, since Russia can’t very well invade the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. And they’re generally impervious to the types of blandishments that a regime like Russia can offer to institutions that play nice. In fact, in recent months, financial investors have made tons of money by betting against Putin."
Read more at http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/16/putin-can-t-bully-or-bomb-a-recession.html?source=TDB&via=FB_Page
Perhaps it is time to recognise that George W Bush’s disastrous foreign policy legacy encompasses far more than just Iraq, torture and the fanning of terrorism. Bush also understood nothing about Russia – right from the moment that he looked into Putin’s eyes and told us how he “got a sense of his soul” – and now we are living with the consequences.
ReplyDeleteIt was the Bush administration that created the sense of insecurity that has caused Russia to react, and overreact, to every perceived threat – including, most recently, the perception that Ukraine was being forcibly dragged out of Russia’s orbit and into the west’s. Bush unilaterally abandoned the anti-ballistic missile treaty, seen by Russia as the cornerstone of strategic balance; he began building a missile shield on Russia’s doorstep; he expanded Nato to Russia’s frontiers, blithely granting the east Europeans “security” while causing Russia to feel threatened.
Read more at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/16/russia-economy-west-vladimir-putin?CMP=fb_gu
W got Putin wrong and he was way too invested in the nonsensical Six-Way talks about North Korea's nuclear program. Other than that, his foreign policy was exactly what America and the world needed.
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian commentary is full of shit regarding the anti-ballistic missile treaty and the missile shield. The author is talking out of both sides of his mouth, castigating W for misreading Putin and then suggesting we should have pursued appeasement of him. But then you can tell the odor of the author by the shit about torture and fanning the flames of terrorism.
I think we did fan the flames of terrorism and terrorists know and love that reality, wanting us to piss more and more kerosene on their fires.
ReplyDelete