I am a skeptic about the effectiveness of missile defense systems, and I don’t want to have a big debate about them. Whether we build a system in Eastern Europe or not is not something I stay up at night thinking about. But if getting a system in place there is important to you, you should notice that Mitt Romney is making it more difficult to accomplish just because he’s an idiot. Vladimir Putin is saying that the mere possibility of Mitt Romney being elected, now or in four years, is forcing him to treat any proposed missile shield as a way to diminish Russia’s nuclear deterrence. Even the prospect of someone who thinks like Mitt Romney getting elected (i.e., a neo-conservative Republican stuck in a Cold War mind-warp) is forcing Russia to take a hard line against a Eastern European missile shield.
By arguing in public that Russia is still America’s number one geopolitical foe, Romney has harmed our relations with Russia.
“I’m grateful to him (Romney) for formulating his stance so clearly because he has once again proven the correctness of our approach to missile defense problems,” Putin told reporters, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
“The most important thing for us is that even if he doesn’t win now, he or a person with similar views may come to power in four years. We must take that into consideration while dealing with security issues for a long perspective,” he said, speaking after a meeting with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, according to Interfax news agency.
After meeting with Obama recently, Putin said he was “a very honest man”, “quite sincere.” and that he could strike a deal on a missile shield with him. Here’s what he said about Romney:
During the same interview with Russia Today last week, Putin said he could work with Romney, but also expressed concerns about the GOP nominee, or someone with similar views, taking over the reins of the missile defense shield.
“In that case, the system will definitely be directed at Russia,” he said, according to a transcript posted on Putin’s official website.
Let’s go over this slowly for the dumb people. If you think it is important to get a missile defense system installed in Eastern Europe, Obama has convinced Putin that he can trust him and have effective negotiations with him that will allow your wish to come true. However, Putin has to consider the possibility that some mental defect like Mitt Romney might be elected one day in the not too distant future, and that is causing him to step back from making an agreement with the Obama administration.
Even when the Republicans lose elections, they hurt our national security simply because they exist, they’re crazy, they aren’t trustworthy, and they’ll eventually win power over our Pentagon again.
It’s not restricted to Russia, either. Romney has threatened to start a trade war with China if he is elected. Just saying stupid shit like that makes it harder to deal with China.
Saying that he’ll let Israel control our Middle Eastern policy vis-a-vis Iran and the Palestinians, makes it harder for us to mobilize an international anti-proliferation campaign against Iran.
He’s done us no favors with our traditional Western European allies, either. Only 3% of Britons say that their opinion of America would improve if we elect Mitt Romney.
I doubt there were more than a single handful of souls at the State Department today who failed to curse Mitt Romney’s rudeness under their breath, if not right out loud.
His whole foreign policy is built around the idea that we should never apologize for anything we’ve ever done, and yet he gives mortal offense to everyone he meets.
It’s not enough for this man to be defeated and to go away. He’s fucking up our country just by running for president.
