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Putin Says the West Is Taking Russia’s ‘Red Lines’ Too Lightly

November 20, 2021

Putin Says the West Is Taking Russia’s ‘Red Lines’ Too Lightly

The Russian leader says relations with US are ‘unsatisfactory’ and is open to more talks

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Western powers are taking Moscow’s “red lines” too lightly.

“We’re constantly voicing our concerns about this, talking about red lines, but we understand our partners — how shall I put it mildly — have a very superficial attitude to all our warnings and talk of red lines,” Putin said in a foreign policy speech.

The Russian leader has warned NATO against expanding cooperation with Ukraine, but NATO countries continue to do so. This week, the UK signed a new navy deal with Kyiv to build warships for Russia’s neighbor.

The US and NATO have stepped up military activity in the Black Sea, which Moscow views as a major provocation. Putin described this activity as going “beyond boundaries” and said a Western strategic bomber recently flew within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of Russia’s borders. US B1-B bombers recently flew over the Black Sea, but it’s not clear how close they were to Russian territory.

Putin said that NATO has destroyed all mechanisms for dialogue with Moscow. The military alliance recently expelled diplomats from Russia’s mission to NATO in Brussels, and Moscow responded by closing the mission.

Putin described relations with the US as “unsatisfactory,” but said he was open to more talks. “However, I want to say once again, we are open to contacts and exchanges of opinion, constructive dialogue,” he said.

 

Red Lines & Lost Credibility

November 7, 2017

Red Lines & Lost Credibility

A major goal of this Asia trip, said National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, is to rally allies to achieve the “complete, verifiable and permanent denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”

Yet Kim Jong Un has said he will never give up his nuclear weapons. He believes the survival of his dynastic regime depends upon them.

Hence we are headed for confrontation. Either the U.S. or North Korea backs down, as Nikita Khrushchev did in the Cuban missile crisis, or there will be war.

In this new century, U.S. leaders continue to draw red lines that threaten acts of war that the nation is unprepared to back up.

Recall President Obama’s, “Assad must go!” and the warning that any use of chemical weapons would cross his personal “red line.”

Result: After chemical weapons were used, Americans rose in united opposition to a retaliatory strike. Congress refused to authorize any attack. Obama and John Kerry were left with egg all over their faces. And the credibility of the country was commensurately damaged.

There was a time when U.S. words were taken seriously, and we heeded Theodore Roosevelt’s dictum: “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.”

After Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1991, George H.W. Bush said simply: “This will not stand.” The world understood that if Saddam did not withdraw from Kuwait, his army would be thrown out. As it was.

But in the post-Cold War era, the rhetoric of U.S. statesmen has grown ever more blustery, even as U.S. relative power has declined. Our goal is “ending tyranny in our world,” bellowed George W. Bush in his second inaugural.

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