Statesman McCain
Filed under: Russia
Recently, Republican presidential nominee John McCain declared that he wouldn't provoke a new nuclear arms race with Russia if he becomes president. Instead, McCain stated, he'd actively pursue a strategic arms limitation treaty with Russia.
In response, an idiot named Ilan Goldenberg, writing for Democracy Arsenal, stated: "McCain's basic plan is to slap the Russians smack across the face and then ask them for a favor. Somehow I don't think that will work."
A favor? Apparently, Mr. Goldenberg thinks that it isn't in Russia's interest to agree to nuclear arms limitation, but only (or at least much more) in America's interest. That's the exact opposite of the truth. America, with the far bigger economy, can far better afford a nuclear arms race than Russia can. In fact, many believe that the strategic arms race initiated by Ronald Reagan with his "Star Wars" proposal is what drove the USSR into bankruptcy and collapse. The idea that the U.S. must convince Russia to do it a favor by agreeing to nuclear arms limits is ridiculously ignorant, and indicative of the utterly failed foreign policy of the left that we have seen so many times before, from JFK at the Bay of Pigs to Jimmy Carter in Iran.
By "smack across the face," Mr. Goldenberg is apparently referring to McCain's policy of seeking to exclude Russia from the G-8 as it has been excluded from other international organizations for lack of democratic credentials. The lunatic left can't decide whether this idea is silly, because the other members would never go along, or dangerous and offensive to Russia. It can't be both, of course, but that doesn't stop the morons of the left from still trying to have it both ways.
Goldenberg at least has that part of it correct. If America tells the G-8 it has to choose between the U.S. and Russia, that America will pull out if Russia isn't booted out, then Russia will go. It's just that simple. And if Russia didn't go, then America could pull out and thereby simply liquidate the G-8 as a significant international presence.
To suggest that it's somehow inconsistent for Senator McCain to favor both nuclear arms negotiation and direct confrontation on other fronts is quite simply stupid. It's not inconsistent, it's statesmanship -- a concept so foreign to these freakish left-wing oddballs that they obviously have trouble recognizing it. The battle America must fight with Russia isn't a nuclear one. Russia lost its superpower status long ago, and McCain understands that. If there will be a military confrontation, it will be a conventional one, on the ground in places like Georgia, Ukraine and Estonia when Russian troops invade. McCain obviously understands the need to beef up American and NATO military capacity in regard to such confrontation, and the risk of getting blinded by the illusion of nuclear deterrence.
But much more important, the real battles will be economic and moral ones, where nuclear arms will be completely useless. McCain knows that we must fight Russian influence in places like the UN and G-8. He knows we must face down the new harshly anti-democratic ideology of the Kremlin, and we must confront the creeping weaponization of Russian energy resources, which it seeks to use as a lever of imperialism. We need to realize that nuclear weapons won't help us win those battles, and McCain needs to make clear to American voters that he won't allow confrontation with Russia to result in a dangerous instability of nuclear armaments.
If those on the left really believed the things they say about nuclear arms, they'd be holding parades of praise for McCain on every American street. But instead, all they want to do is desperately search for ways to attack him. Perhaps that's why Democrats haven't re-elected a president with a majority of the popular vote since the time of FDR.
John McCain is saying we can confront and defeat neo-Soviet Russia, stand up for American values around the world, and do it all without inflicting another nuclear panic on the world's children. He's right on the money, reconfirming that he's by far the best choice to become the next president of the United States.
NOTE: To comment on this post for publication, write to: kimzigfeld@gmail.com
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