Vladimir Putin
October 13, 2015 — John Hinderaker
Vladimir Putin once again showed his deep respect for Barack Obama, as he complained about the incompetence of U.S. policy in Syria: “Now, we often hear that our pilots are striking the wrong targets, not IS,” Putin said at an investment forum in Moscow explaining that Russia had asked Washington to provide a list of targets. But Washington declined. “‘No, we are not ready for this’ was the answer,” Putin
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October 12, 2015 — Scott Johnson
Last night 60 Minutes aired an interview with President Obama conducted by Steve Kroft. The interview ran over two segments. Videos and transcript are posted here. In the first half of the interview Kroft asked about foreign policy. The questions were critical and the atmosphere was tense. Obama was not pleased. Obama yammered in his accustomed style. Kroft interrupted to note that he felt like he was being filibustered. Again,
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September 29, 2015 — Scott Johnson
It was the cover the New York Daily News that condensed President Ford’s denial of federal aid to New York City in the classic headline: FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD. Somewhat more fairly, but equally concisely, today’s Daily News cover condenses the action at the United Nations yesterday between Presidents Obama and Putin. It’s a sort of PUTIN TO OBAMA moment. Cameron Joseph’s cover story is here. Like everyone else
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September 28, 2015 — Steven Hayward
As I watched Vladimir Putin run circles around Obama last night on 60 Minutes, I got to realizing why Donald Trump may be the only person who can match up to Putin. Trump is the only candidate who can match Putin’s macho, chick-magnet act. Here’s Trump, for example, with his prospective national security council: And here is the posse described as “Putin’s Army”: But can Trump match this hacktastic music
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December 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, I mentioned that Thomas Friedman is taunting Vladimir Putin for being exposed by the drop in oil prices as a “delusional thug” who, with oil tide receding, is now “swimming naked.” Friedman is also taunting conservatives for having been impressed by Putin’s successes, which is rich coming from a columnist who has long been in the tank for Communist China’s one-party rule. Not surprisingly, Friedman misses the point of
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March 20, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Jimmy Fallon gets down on the Obama-Putin phone calls (about 3 minutes long):
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March 20, 2014 — Scott Johnson
It is not difficult to get a fix on Barack Obama’s view of the world. It is the view of the leftover left that took the side of the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Obama seems not to have changed his views or to have learned anything since his days as a college student in which he performed as a “useful idiot” for the Soviet Union. A year ago,
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March 20, 2014 — Scott Johnson
I posted the strip below this past January, but it’s time has come around again. It contrasts Barack Obama with Vladimir Putin in an entertaining and (somewhat) instructive way. Why is that man bowing? Those bows are a killer. Late in the Age of Obama, Obama has yet to field a question on the subject. (Jay Carney, of course, denied that he was bowing.) We are left to our own
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March 5, 2014 — Steven Hayward
How come, people are asking, our vaunted intelligence establishment didn’t foresee Putin’s aggression against the Ukraine? For instance, Politico asks: “A range of lawmakers and intelligence community experts are puzzled about why U.S. intelligence agencies seem to have misjudged Putin’s intentions and whether the lack of warning fits a pattern of other significant intelligence shortcomings in recent years.” How about this for an answer: Our “intelligence community” just isn’t very
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March 3, 2014 — Scott Johnson
In the course of its excellent editorial on Russia’s invasion of the Crimean peninsula, the Wall Street Journal’s editorialists draw on the readout of Obama’s 90-minute telephone conversation with Barack Obama over the weekend. We posted the White House readout of Obama’s side of the conversation yesterday and linked to the Kremlin readout of its side of the conversation in Russian. The Kremlin readout is posted in English here. This
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January 19, 2014 — Scott Johnson
The strip below contrasting Barack Obama with Vladimir Putin takes a look back in an entertaining and (somewhat) instructive way. Why is that man bowing? Those bows are a killer. As we enter year 6 of the Age of Obama, Obama has yet to field a question on the subject. (Jay Carney, of course, denied that he was bowing.) We are left to our own devices, and we have a
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September 15, 2013 — Scott Johnson
I learn through Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal column (behind the Journal’s jealously guarded subscription paywall) that Vladimir Putin’s brilliant New York Times op-ed column stomping on President Obama was written by a public relations firm. (I think Noonan was relying on this post by Times public editor Margaret Sullivan.) In the op-ed Putin goes out of his way to mock Obama in terms calculated perfectly to offend him. For
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September 13, 2013 — Scott Johnson
I commented here on Vladimir Putin’s patently contemptuous op-ed column in the New York times yesterday. A senior White House official who wisely insisted that his name not be linked to his comment on the column purported to translate it as Putin taking responsibility for Syria’s chemical weapons compliance. Jake Tapper quotes the official: “He put this proposal forward and he’s now invested in it. That’s good. That’s the best
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September 12, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Furthering his bid for a Nobel Peace Prize, Vladimir Putin steps forth as a prince of peace in the New York Times op-ed column “A plea for caution from Russia.” Putin seeks to inject a dose of sweet reason into what he refers to as “events surrounding Syria.” Putin’s column implicitly characterizes President Obama as something of a cowboy in the sphere of international relations. Putin deems President Obama in
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September 10, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Vladimir Putin’s proposed resolution to the U.S. confrontation with Syria raises the following question: why did Putin propose it? After all, it seemed increasingly clear that Congress was not going to authorize a strike, thus making it more likely than not that Obama would call the whole thing off. Moreover, if conservative critics of the proposed attack are to be believed, any attack would have been so insignificant as to
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September 10, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
There is a good chance that President Obama will latch on to Vladimir Putin’s proposed resolution to our confrontation with Syria over its chemical weapons. I agree with Scott that the resolution will be more phony than real. In other words, Assad will not turn over his stash of chemical weapons; at best he won’t use them again in this war. Where would this resolution leave us? I think there
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