By Not Standing Up to Putin, Obama Fails Both the Russian and Syrian People : Henry Jackson Society
And they should know, given the fact that would-be President-for-life Putin has just captured a third term, thanks to severely restricted political competition, state-run media propaganda and a healthy dose of electoral fraud. According to RIA Novosti, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has said:
“In our view such opinions are counterproductive as they give a false signal to the opposition that there is no reason to engage in dialogue, that it’s better to expect help from NATO and the West, as was the case in Libya. We believe that this scenario is absolutely inadmissible and it will have grave consequences for Syrians and the stability of the situation in the region.”
This is to be expected from a regime that has only recently reminded the international community of its disregard for human rights and the rule of law in its own country; priorities which one could expect to be reflected in a disregard for human rights violations abroad.
Yet what is particularly galling is the absolute refusal of the United States to recognise the connection between Russia’s conduct at home and abroad. Any hope that the US might acknowledge Russia’s self-interested support of Bashar al-Assad’s ongoing campaign of mass murder has been decisively refuted by both the wheedling language used to request their cooperation in securing new sanctions against Syria, and, by President Obama’s decision to call and congratulate Putin on an election well-stolen.
The administration’s failures on Russia are bad enough—but its refusal to see how bowing and scraping to Putin’s crime-syndicate government not only lets down the people of Russia, but aids and abets Russia’s obstruction of international assistance to the Syrian people. Reset, indeed.