The Wimp and The Whimper!

   "This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper."

T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men, 1925

Distinguished poet T. S. Eliot was of course not referring to the present seeming-impasse between the Free World and Russia when he penned those lines nearly ninety years ago. Nevertheless, their truth and relevance have never been greater than it is today.  Sadly, the Wimp seems to be American President Barack Obama., and the Whimper  Heard Round the World is his repeated blather about "consequences" to be imposed upon the Russian President  Vladimir Putin for first invading independent Ukraine, then staging a phony referendum in Crimea, and now getting  ready to annex the Crimea region to the Russian motherland. Whether Putin will now go after the rest of Ukraine -- and then maybe former Soviet Georgia and Chechnya, and who knows what else -- remains to be seen, and likely will be, soon.

For all those who consider that our American President Barack Obama is not, indeed, a wimp, I have a one-word answer:Syria.  Not that long ago, President Obama talked about"consequences" of Syrian President Assad's brutality in killing so many of his own citizens mainly in order to stay in office so that he could kill even more of them with seeming impunity.   Assad's proven use of chemical weapons was only the worst of his crimes against his Syrians, and against humanity as well.   Now, after well over one hundred thousand innocent Syrians have been slaughtered, Obama has yet to take any real action which would give form and reality to those vaguely-defined "consequences" and the ineffective "sanctions" imposed to date.

Since Russia is the biggest  backer of the Syrian regime with its long record of atrocities, undoubtedly Vladimir Putin was vastly encouraged to invade Ukraine, and split off its Crimean region as once-again part of Russia, by the ineffectiveness of America, Europe, and even the United Nations in dealing with the Syrian tragedy.  For all those who consider that there was nothing which President Obama, Europe, and the United Nations might have done to control Syria, I have a two-word answer: No-Fly Zone.   Had the civilized world enforced such a Syrian No-Fly Zone, combined with reducing weapons that the Assad regime was readily using on its own men, women, and children, there would have been far fewer casualties.  It would even  be possible that Bashar (the Basher) Assad would be out-of-office and on trial now in the World Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Unfortunately, President Barack Obama wimped out of any such no-fly action in the skies over Syria -- or any other really-serious action, for that matter.  It seems that he is well on his way to wimping out again over the Putin Power Grab in Ukraine, of which the Crimea region may be only the beginning.   For qll those who consider that there has been nothing we could do to stop this Grab, I have one acronym: NATO.  Had NATO welcomed Ukraine into emergency membership, it is highly doubtful that even Vladimir Putin would have attacked a member of NATO so readily.

Philosopher George Santayana was fond of saying those those who fail to learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it.  For all those who consider that our American President Barack Obama has not contributed to the problems with Syria and Russia, rather than to their solution, I have a name to be considered: Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister in 1939, who tried to buy "peace in our time" by ceding considerable portions of Europe to Adolf Hitler.  

That approach did not work then--and it will not work now, with Vladimir Putin, who respects only proven and demonstrated strength.  We had better prove and demonstrate our American national strength and will, and our commitment to freedom, liberty, and justice, now, before it becomes to late to do so with Vladimir Putin.  The Russian President, who could barely contain his invasion of Ukraine until the end of the Sochi Olympics, is not a patient man.