The “Stans” Side With Russia Over Obama

05 Feb, 2009 by John Hawkins

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The timing of this move says a lot about how much confidence these nations have in the United States now that Barack Obama is President,

A Russian-led bloc of post-Soviet nations has agreed to establish a rapid-reaction military force to combat terrorists and respond to regional emergencies, Russian media reported Wednesday.

The decision came a day after reports that Kyrgyzstan is planning to close a strategically important U.S. military base that Washington uses to transport troops and supplies into Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, the Collective Security Treaty Organization — made up of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — decided on the rapid-reaction force at a Kremlin summit, the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported.

You think it’s a coincidence that this happened so soon after Barack Obama became President?

For all the abuse and attacks that were heaped on George Bush from abroad, other nations knew he was made of stern stuff. Obama, on the other hand, is a cream puff. A weakling. All talk and no action. A eunuch who’s more concerned about the reaction in Europe than protecting his own country.

There are many people around the world who are glad that Barack Obama is no Bush, but far too many Americans haven’t really thought that through. Despite all the rhetoric about “cowboys,” what most people overseas didn’t like about George Bush was the fact that he put American interests first and that they couldn’t sway him with their complaints.

That’s certainly not true about Obama and if you’re a marginal country like Kyrgyzstan, seeing that weakness at the top in the United States can be just enough to convince you that it makes more sense to throw in with a bad actor like Russia, rather than America. Unfortunately, you can be sure that they won’t be the last nation making similar calculations during the Obama presidency.