Obama Under Pressure To Show Who Is the Boss

He didn’t even have time to breathe. Just after Obama, through diplomacy, managed to calm the Syrian situation that resulted from his failed intervention in this country, Russia’s Vladimir Putin gained momentum in his quest to become the executioner who will put an end to the national and international political leadership of Obama.

Among other things, during the last months Putin’s Russia managed to stop the intervention of the U.S. and its allies in Syria. Today, Bashar al-Assad remains in Damascus, even though he used sarin gas on his own people.

Not only that. Moscow plays an active role in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, took part in solving the problem with the Iranian nuclear program and has announced negotiations with North Korea.

Regarding American diplomacy as weak, Putin gave shelter to Edward Snowden, a former CIA analyst, despite the United States’ warning not to do it.

“There is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda,” Obama said at the time in a statement that preceded his “retaliation,” that is, cancelling a bilateral meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg.

But back home in America it seems that Obama’s warnings make him look weaker than Putin. In Congress, reproaches by Republicans who can’t bear what they consider to be little short of humiliation are growing.

“Something must be done as soon as possible,” said the chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Republican Edward Royce.*

However, so far the Democratic administration’s warnings — which range from economic sanctions to suspension of military exercises and commercial meetings in Moscow — haven’t worked to persuade Russia to move its troops away from the occupied Crimea.

“We already know Obama is not good at threatening,” Republican Lindsay Graham, the United States senator from North Carolina, commented very critically.*

The remarks made by the Republicans every time Putin and Obama argue are likely spot on. Few believed last night that Russia would accept the decision to withdraw. “I’m not optimistic they’re going to leave,” admitted the former United States ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul.

The mistrust between both countries increases, which is sometimes reminiscent of Cold War times. It’s a worrying situation for Obama, who is under pressure to show that he can influence Putin on a conflict that is deepening between the West and the East.

The problem for Obama is that, after his many disagreements with Putin, it seems the Russian has scored more points. He has forced Obama to hold another round of negotiations, which weren’t in Obama’s schedule.

“I think that, since the issue of Snowden, we have been seeing the end of Obama’s plan to relaunch relations with Moscow,” said Matt Mitchell (of the Carnegie Centre for International Studies).**

Mitchell added, “That was nothing but the end of a series of events that show the relations between the two capitals don’t work.”*

Having become a powder keg, the Ukraine crisis is related to the pressure Moscow wants to impose on Washington. By doing so, Moscow compels Washington to put rhetoric aside and exhaust itself during the negotiations to the rhythm of Russian events.

*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.

**Editor’s Note: This quote could not be verified. The author is probably referring to the Carnegie Center for International Relations and Politics.