Once Barack Obama warned Putin to stand down in the Crimea, its occupation by Russian troops was assured.  As Syria showed the world recently, and the Ukraine shows today, Barack Obama needs to learn how to shut his mouth.  Yet, who knew when he said, “there will be costs,” we would be the ones to pay?

To paraphrase Lincoln, it is better to shut up and be thought weak than to open your mouth and prove it.  Someone should tell Barry.  Every time his mouth writes a check his butt won’t cash, he weakens America and makes the world a much more dangerous place for everyone.  Does anyone really think that if the Chinese attack Japan over the Senkaku Islands, Obama, even though treaty-bound, will come to their aid?  If the Iranians declare they have a nuclear weapon, will Obama do one damn thing?   

Putin does not respect Obama -- he views him as weak and incompetent, ill suited for the world stage and the big game.  He took the measure of Obama in 2009, when Barry gave up his only bargaining chip, missile defense systems about to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, before negotiations on cutting nuclear arsenals even began. The Russians were playing chess and Barry was playing with himself.

Has Barry done anything in the last five years to prove otherwise?  Putin embarrassed him, casually dismissing his demand for Eric Snowden’s return, and then he embarrassed him once more with the Syria incident, and now yet again, with putting the ‘crime’ in Crimea. 

Everyone remembers, “I didn’t set a red line.  The world set a red line.”  One would think he would have learned his lesson, having been so thoroughly humiliated with Syria.

First he threatened attack over Assad’s purported use of chemical weapons.  Then the British bailed and then NATO bailed and then, despite not needing to, he went to Congress for approval and when it looked like he was going to lose, Uncle Vladdy bailed him out, by promising to oversee the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapon stockpiles. 

Then Barry, tail between his legs, crawled back to the White House and pretended it was a victory for the nation and the world, while everyone laughed at his fecklessness.  Haven’t heard a lot about those chemical weapons lately, have you? 

Obama is still the same brilliant strategist who announced a surge in Afghanistan, while also announcing a departure date.  Apparently he had figured out how to attack and retreat at the same time. 

Now here he is threatening “costs.”  They must have had a ball at the Kremlin after that phone call.  I can’t believe Putin didn’t breakout in hysterical laughter while he was still on the phone. 

In December 1994, Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum, an agreement with the United States, Russia, and Great Britain to give up its nuclear weapons, leftovers from the collapse of the Soviet Union, in exchange for a guarantee of territorial integrity.  Because it is not a treaty, neither the U.S. nor NATO is obligated to militarily defend Ukraine, but now with the Russian aggression, I would wager the Ukrainians regret that decision.  If they still had their nuclear arsenal, they would still have the Crimea. 

Other countries see this and understand.  There is no point in not arming to the hilt.  You can see it now in Southeast Asia where there is a mini-arms race in the face of Chinese aggression. 

Saudi Arabia and Japan are looking very closely at the ‘nuclear’ option, something that was unthinkable before Obama’s ‘smart diplomacy;’ nuclear weapons afford a certain level of security, and America under Barack Obama has become a nation that cannot be trusted. Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Manila, Riyadh, and Hanoi are watching closely as well.  Let the games begin.

Obama didn’t even attend the national security meeting on the Crimea.  In all fairness, he and Putin did have a 90-minute phone call and I think the meeting was held on Saturday -- everyone knows Barry plays golf on Saturday.  He is a modern day Nero, except Nero fiddled, while Obama putts.

What could they possibly be saying to each other for 90 minutes?

Obama:  “Please get out of the Crimea.”

Putin:  “Shut up, you wimp.”

The White House even released an official photo of dear leader talking to Vladimir Putin, and as all events concerning our national narcissist are marked, Obama alone in Mandela’s cell and sitting alone in a bus when Rosa Parks died, etc., it is of him, alone:

He looks so tough and resolute.  Now, if that doesn’t show the “deep concern” Barry is always expressing with every foreign upheaval, starting with the June 2009 Iranian street protests, nothing does.

Everyone knows who is smiling today -- the mullahs in Iran and the Chinese.  There is a little less than three years left of Obama’s second term.  The clock is ticking for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and Middle East hegemony, and for China to seize the entire South and East China Seas and Southeast Asian supremacy.  With every step back that Obama takes on the world stage, the world becomes more dangerous, and the United States loses respect.  The world is the ‘schoolyard’ writ large, the first time lunch money is taken is never the last. 

Putin now wants Odessa.  Odessa is a port city and it affords Ukraine options.  The nation’s leaders have recently been studying the possibility of building facilities to import LNG (liquid natural gas).  In the past, Russia, literally, has turned off the natural gas supply when the nation didn’t toe Moscow’s line.  Freedom from dependency on Russian natural gas to heat their homes and fuel their industry would be a game changer.  LNG port facilities in or around Odessa can provide that freedom. 

Ukraine, which gets 65% of its natural gas from Russia, is, basically, a vassal state, subservient, economically and in foreign policy.  Seize Odessa and Ukraine will never be more than a Russian province. 

People talk of the massive military maneuvers Russia is conducting just across the border, but this is sleight of hand.  Just as BO’s “deep concern” is to distract from the Obamacare disaster, the Russians are playing their cards well.  They don’t want to invade and force a bloody civil war, but a nice little takeover of a port city will be a ‘fait accompli’ that probably would not provoke armed opposition by the world or even Ukraine itself.

What to do…

There has been talk of America not going to the G8 meeting in Sochi, Russia (why does “Sochi” sound familiar?).  There is even talk of kicking Russia out of the G8 club.  Some have even said NATO should block passage through the Bosporus by Russian naval ships, bottling up the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Blocking the Bosporus would be an act of war and Obama does not have the nerve.  The others are all meaningless.  If you want to oppose the Russian occupation of the Crimea, Obama should issue an executive order (he likes those, no?) allowing the exportation of crude oil and LNG.  America is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas and the EU is entirely dependent on Russian energy supplies.  Allowing the exportation of American natural gas to Europe and even Ukraine (if Russia doesn’t take Odessa), will throw a big monkey wrench into Putin’s plans for renewed Russian hegemony.

This will take time for the export facilities to be built.  However, we can export oil and coal as well, and that can be done immediately.

It is all about the EU’s addiction to Russian energy and how much Russia depends on that reality for funds.  In fact, the exportation of energy is all Russia has, introduce another supply and Putin will have a lot less money to be aggressive with.

Now, all we have to do is spend the next three years praying Iran doesn’t explode a nuclear weapon in Manhattan and China doesn’t seize the East and South China Seas.

Should either happen, I’m sure Barack Obama will express “deep concern.”