ANOTHER U.S. ALLY SNUBBED BY OBAMA

In the summer of 2008, Russia invaded Georgia, a pro-western ally of the United States. Obama's response was controversial and not what one might call unambiguous. It was challenged by Obama's opponent at the time, John McCain and came up during one of their debates. Many believed that Obama was less than forceful with his rhetoric because he didn't want to appear confrontational with Russia - similar behavior was observed during the uprisings in Iran.

Part II of Obama's treatment of Georgia appeared to take place this week when the U.S. president refused to meet with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili.

Via Jackson Diehl at Washington Post:

One of those left out was Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia, who got a phone call from Obama last week instead of a meeting in Washington. His exclusion must have prompted broad smiles in Moscow, where Saakashvili is considered public enemy no. 1 -- a leader whom Russia tried to topple by force in the summer of 2008. After all, Obama met with Viktor Yanukovych, the president of Ukraine and a friend of the Kremlin. And he is also meeting with the leaders of two of Georgia’s neighbors -- Armenia and Turkey, both of which enjoy excellent relations with Russia.

Making this snub even more peculiar - h/t to Hot Air - is the recent revelation that Georgia had uncovered a plot to sell weapons-grade uranium on the black market. Since the securing of nuclear weapons all around the world was supposed to be a central theme at the Nuclear Summit, wouldn't such a discovery put Saakashvili at the front of the line for bi-lateral talks with Obama?

VIa the Guardian:

Georgian security forces have foiled a criminal plot to sell weapons-grade uranium on the black market, the country's president told a gathering of world leaders yesterday.

The revelation brought a sense of urgency to the Washington summit on nuclear security, where Barack Obama called on the rest of the world "not simply to talk, but to act" to destroy vulnerable stockpiles of nuclear material, or to safeguard them against theft by terrorists.

It would appear in this example that Obama's domestic policy of punishing success via higher taxes for the top producers in some cases translates to foreign policy. Think about this for a second. At a Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), the intent of which is to ascertain ways to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, one country announces that it was successful in foiling a plot that would have led to nuclear weapons being in the hands of terrorists. Instead of the leader of that country being recognized for his country's success, he is snubbed by Barack Obama. The excuse? Too many leaders to see and schedule too limited. Uh, pardon me but I believe Georgia was the only country to announce such a huge victory on the eve of the NSS.

Here is video of an exchange between Fox's Neil Cavuto and Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili in which the former asks the latter about the snub. Saakashvili predictably took the high road but it's obvious to anyone this was a big presidential snub, presumably for the same reason Obama wasn't more forceful with Russia after the invasion - he didn't want to upset them.



One last thing on this. In an earlier post, I referenced the first paragraph of an AP story about the goals of this summit. Here is that paragraph:

In full accord on a global threat, world leaders Tuesday endorsed President Barack Obama's call for securing all nuclear materials around the globe within four years to keep them out of the grasp of terrorists. They offered few specifics for achieving that goal, but Obama declared "the American people will be safer and the world will be more secure" as a result.

Uh, maybe if more attention was given to the country that produced an ACTUAL RESULT, it would lead to MORE SPECIFICS on how to deal with the problem.

h/t to Hot Air

VIDEO: OBAMA SPANKS UNCLE SAM AGAIN

Struck me as another "Joe the Plumber" slip up, only this time he was talking at the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS). The excerpt from this 20 second clip that will raise eyebrows is when Obama says, "Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military super power..." His handlers and apologists are sure to say his words were taken out of context.

Their argument will certainly be to look at the larger point - reducing the number of conflicts in the world is in America's best interest because we always end up being involved. That still doesn't explain the, "whether we like it or not" comment. When you couple that with Obama's actions, which seem to be more indicative of him NOT liking the U.S. being a dominant military power, it takes on added importance.



Moreover, In writing about the Summit, the AP - unwittingly or otherwise - seemed to encapsulate another problem consistent with Barack Obama's reality paradigm. Note the very first paragraph:

In full accord on a global threat, world leaders Tuesday endorsed President Barack Obama's call for securing all nuclear materials around the globe within four years to keep them out of the grasp of terrorists. They offered few specifics for achieving that goal, but Obama declared "the American people will be safer and the world will be more secure" as a result.

Few specifics, indeed. That tends to happen when academics are leading the discussion, one of which - Obama - seems to be chastising his own country for being too strong when nefarious nations not at the Summit - Iran and North Korea - are on the brink of obtaining nuclear weapons.

h/t to Free Republic

PLANE CRASH: POLISH OFFICIAL BLAMES RUSSIA

The London Daily Mail is reporting that Polish MP Artur Gorski is pointing the finger at Russia with respect to the plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski and several top officials on April 10th.

Via the Mail:

'One version of events says that the plane approached the airport four times, because every time the Russians refused it permission to land - they wanted to send the plane with the president to an airport in Moscow or Minsk,' Mr Gorski claimed in an interview published in the newspaper Nasz Dziennik.

'They came up with some dubious reasons: that there was fog over the airport, and that the navigation system didn't work as it was under renovation, and that airport had a short landing strip.'

The longer the tragic irony and macabre coincidences of this crash continue to be noticed, the more Poland is going to demand answers. It is for this reason that it is absolutely imperative for Russia to be 100% transparent with this investigation. As I said here, skepticism is sure to supercede trust considering both Putin's track record as well as the fact that he is the one overseeing the investigation.

h/t to Drudge