John McCain Gives Obama a Lecture

John McCain is an unusual Republican, in the sense that he has remained independent from the toxic lobbies that have polluted the American right. He may not know how many houses he owns — see his 2008 campaign against Obama — but in matters of foreign policy, he is usually right. While the bulk of the GOP has rushed to rebuke the 44th against launching a nuclear war against Russia, instead pushing for sanctions in the hope that America’s economic interests might be preserved, McCain has kept a cool head. His comments therefore have more weight.

In an op-ed published by the New York Times, the Republican senator from Arizona laments that in the last five years, the Democratic administration has continuously sought to appease Russia, notably with the “reset button” policy promulgated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. From this time period, there remains a slightly ridiculous photo of Hillary offering a button to her Russian counterpart. Hillary is now gone; Sergei Lavrov is, of course, still here. But, as McCain stresses, this reset policy is a huge error in the interpretation of the psychology of Russians in general and the Kremlin leader in particular. The policy was viewed by Russia as an admission of weakness, and Vladimir Putin immediately seeks to exploit any sign of weakness.

“I was very surprised, when I met John McCain in Congress, by his knowledge of Russian politics, down to the last detail,” says Elena Servettaz, a French-Russian journalist specializing in relations between Russia and the West. “The reset was Medvedev’s idea when he was president,” she said. “Obama also has held strong to this idea. But we can’t forget that Putin does not support or respect weak political leaders. The more that Europe or the U.S. tells him to step back, the more he’ll push forward. People close to Putin have told me that they would prefer that McCain be elected president so that there would be someone forceful in the international scene.”*

America’s withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, decided more on the desire to leave these quagmires than by the success of the military interventions, is another sign of weakness — not to mention the famous “red line” Bashar al-Assad would supposedly cross if he used chemical weapons. Once it was confirmed and verified that Assad had crossed this line, however, Americans gave no response. “For Mr. Putin, vacillation invites aggression,” writes John McCain. “His world is a brutish, cynical place, where power is worshiped, weakness is despised, and all rivalries are zero-sum.” And to state, as Barack Obama recently did that we are not “in competition with Russia,” invites howls of laughter from the Kremlin. Perhaps the U.S. is not in a competition, but Russia certainly is.

The most worrying aspect of Russia’s annexation of Crimea is the signal it sends to enemies of the U.S. and its allies: For example, what will happen with Japan amid Chinese aggression to recover certain islands, not to mention Taiwan? America’s displays of weakness also encourage Iran and al-Qaida, who still controls a portion of Iraq.

“Russia does not need the Council of Europe, the G-8, or the G-20,” explains Elena Servettaz. “The only thing that scares those in power is the possibility of an asset freeze. They don’t care about the assets of the less-important deputies in the State Duma. No, they are concerned about the assets of enormous State conglomerates like Gazprom, for example, or the fortune of the Russian oligarchs or those close to Putin, like Arkady Rotenberg or Gennady Timchenko, who was appointed as a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in France.

“America’s greatest strength has always been its hopeful vision of human progress. But hopes do not advance themselves, and the darkness that threatens them will not be checked by an America in denial about the world as it is. It requires realism, strength and leadership. If Crimea does not awaken us to this fact, I am afraid to think what will.”* Enough said.

*Editor’s note: These quotes, while accurately translated, could not be verified.