And there is no one at the helm.

Russia's Putin warns against intimidating Iran

<link>

I do not believe that the Russians have such a warm relationship with the Iranians that they will go to the mat for them. They are mutual trading partners, of course, and the Russians have no reason to fear Iran because, unlike The United States and Israel, the Russians could kick the shit out of Iran and no one would say a word about it.

But there is more to this than meets the eye. This is not about how close the Russians and the Mullahs are; this is about Barack Obama, and how weak America is. Our enemies see an opportunity here. They have perceived that Obama is weak, and not just weak, but totally incompetent and of a political philosophy that believes one can reason with the unreasonable.

We are facing hard times in this country. The world is going to take advantage of this opportunity to take us down. We have no leader, and our congress is ruled by idiots.

The cat is in the cradle, and Barack Obama is a cat person.

Jack

on the subject of voting according to the party as opposed to voting according to the merits of the individual. At that time I disagreed with you....I shall never disagree with you again on that matter.

I allowed one bad egg... GWB .... to sour my attitude..suffice it to say I have learned my lesson.

jo

Yes, it is the political philosophy that must take precedence. The leaders come and go but ideas and proven policies go on.

Just as we have now, an economy on the rocks and an administration attempting to put out a fire by throwing more gasoline on it. The government now owns or controls 30% of the American economy. If they don't get out of the way and let private enterprise be free to turn it around, this economy will never be fixed.

Government cannot create jobs. It can put people to doing things and pay them twice, or three times, what the job is worth; but the government can not create productive labor. Somebody has to make something that can be sold for a profit. That is how jobs a tax base are created.

Jack

Calm down, Jack, you sound as though the Russian fleet were sailing toward Pearl Harbor. They aren't.

This is called diplomatic posturing. Obama would be a failure if he responded to such posturing with "OMG, the cat is in the cradle!"

It truly scares me to think what the response to it would be from the John McCain who ran for President in '08.

but then again truth is not always a pleasant thing. I was so pissed at Bush for his collaborations with Mexico, big oil and Cheney's shadowy financial empire...I was ready to vote any which way but up....and yet we are still worse off than if we had The GOP at the helm...it is amazing!

You're right. That does represent a radical decline from the previous adminis........ oh... never mind.

<link>

You may have missed my point, Ron. What i was trying to convey is that, if we had a strong leader, the Russians might have been more inclined to support sanctions against Iran. They have declined because they know that Obama will do nothing about it. They know he will not order an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

If we put it to them that, if they do not support sanctions, the military option is all that is left then they might be more cooperative.

Jack

"We need to look for a compromise. If a compromise is not found, and the discussions end in a fiasco, then we will see." Obviously Putin has absolutely no intention of cooperating where Iran is concerned.

Obama is a weak president for a number of reasons and not the least is that he entered the Oval Office a minimum of four years too soon. He wasn’t seasoned enough to handle things and even some liberals are finally beginning to grasp that reality.

He is a weak president along the Neville Chamberlain mode. We know what resulted from that fool taking a hand in things and so, too, do the Russians and Iranians. Collectively they are licking their chops and are playing hardball international politics in a way that Obama cannot handle.

The irony is that only Hillary and Bill Clinton could tell him what the hell is really wrong with the piece of crap that is his foreign policy [if he even has one] and she has been politically neutered and isolated inside the Obama Administration and Bill probably cannot even enter the White House doors.

Obama is surrounded by pie in the sky socialists [who’ve never actually done a damn thing in their lives, for whom all of this is pure theory] who are telling him that things can be done in a way that they putatively cannot. Perhaps during those formative years when Barack was smoking crack cocaine he should have instead read a history book or two.

JackDallas:

And there is no one at the helm.

Russia's Putin warns against intimidating Iran

<link>

I do not believe that the Russians have such a warm relationship with the Iranians that they will go to the mat for them. They are mutual trading partners, of course, and the Russians have no reason to fear Iran because, unlike The United States and Israel, the Russians could kick the shit out of Iran and no one would say a word about it.

But there is more to this than meets the eye. This is not about how close the Russians and the Mullahs are; this is about Barack Obama, and how weak America is. Our enemies see an opportunity here. They have perceived that Obama is weak, and not just weak, but totally incompetent and of a political philosophy that believes one can reason with the unreasonable.

We are facing hard times in this country. The world is going to take advantage of this opportunity to take us down. We have no leader, and our congress is ruled by idiots.

The cat is in the cradle, and Barack Obama is a cat person.

Jack

Hi Jack, just in case you did not notice, there is nothing- not one thing that I could find - in the article from the link you provided that justifies or supports one statement you made. I will concede this: We are facing hard times in this country.

Perhaps I should take to calling you Gatewood Jr., who seems never to have made an assertion he felt a need to document.

I beg the indulgence of Reuters; I would normally not reproduce such a large portion of an article. I will click on an ad 43 times as penance and to show my appreciation.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned major powers on Wednesday against intimidating Iran and said talk of sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme was "premature".

Later:

"And if now, before making any steps (towards holding talks) we start announcing some sanctions, then we won't be creating favourable conditions for them (talks) to end positively. This is why it is premature to talk about this now."

Later:

Iranian, Russian, French, U.S. and U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency officials will meet in Vienna on Oct. 19 to discuss how to implement a plan agreed in principle at talks in Geneva for low-grade Iranian uranium to be enriched overseas to a purity suitable for nuclear reactors but not weapons.

The Geneva talks on Oct. 1 also produced Iranian agreement for international inspectors to visit a second enrichment plant now under construction near Qom. Apparent Iranian concession reduced pressure for a widening of economic sanctions some analysts said could be extended to the oil and gas industry.

Later:

Putin: "We are being guided by what the head of the American state is saying," Putin said. "He said there would be no anti-missile shield in Europe. We are satisfied by this statement, and to make assumptions what happens next is not quite right."

The United States is rapidly developing this 'MOP' bomb. I'm hoping we don't have to use it, but it'll be nice to have around.

The clearest indicator to the Russians that intercession is our last recourse was the decision to not put anti-ballistic weaponry in eastern europe. Not only did it make the Russians nervous, but it gave the indication that we were primarily considering defensive measures. Now there is clarity.

The Russians aren't against sanctions. They - and rightly so, believe that sanctions are ineffective and at this juncture, counter-productive since the Iranians have already agreed to inspection procedures. We have nothing to lose in sanctions, the Russians do. The ball is in their court right now, but it's way too early to think they'll drop the ball. It appears to me that they basically share our objectives on both Iran and North Korea.

because there's just nothing much to you as a poster -- at least nothing that you've demonstrated to us so far. If you want to be treated like an ankle biter however I will be happy to switch posting modes with you.

As far as JackDallas goes, you should aspire to be one tenth the quality poster he is. Such lofty goals would do you some good and give you something to do besides masturbating all over this board.

Oh . . . and if you think so highly of yourself as a political poster well let's see you fling something out there that people will want to read and then let's see you defend it for post after post after post. You have green legs and a big croak little frog? Then let's see how far and how high you can jump.

That's a pretty good spin.

Jack

You're right, Jack, I did miss your point. And I don't doubt that other nations will seek to test Obama, not so much because he's "weak," but because he's young. (Damn kid is a year younger than me.) Think Kruschev-Kennedy. One needs to realize that the bulk of his national security team, all the way up to Secretary Gates, are folks you and I would agree have experience, knowledge and guts. We're not talking about David Axelrod and David Sedaris here.

That said, I still don't think there's anything too surprising about what Putin said. He said it's premature, we've got these talks with Iran starting in a few days, there's no need to go intimidating the Iranian people just yet. If Iran is not willing to compromise and the talks end in a fiasco, then we'll see.

Anyone who thinks that Putin was going to say, "I looked Hillary Clinton in the eye and judged her soul, and when she kicked me in the nuts I realized she was really right and I will do as she asks" has another think coming to them.

Personally, I don't doubt for a moment that Iran is working to develop a nuclear weapon, and I don't doubt for a moment that the consummation of that desire would be a big bad thing. And as I said, I fully expect foreign leaders to test Obama.

Nevertheless, here on October 14th, I'm quite content with what I see, and I think you're over-reacting.

Viva la two-party system.