American Lameduck Goofball-in-Chief wows Aussie students

At the University of Queensland:

U.S. President Barack Obama gave a landmark speech ... where his call for immediate action to protect the Great Barrier Reef was met with rousing applause.

... In a pot shot at Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration, Mr Obama said the United States was 'leading in opposing Russia's aggression, which is a threat to the world - which we saw in the appalling shoot down of MH17'. [So, he admits that what Russia is getting away with in Ukraine is thanks to US "leadership".  That's why Putin is shaking in his boots.]

It's easy to see why he picked a university to deliver his feckless bullcrap.

[via]

Harper to Putin: "Get out of Ukraine"

At the G20 summit:

Reluctantly accepting Putin’s hand, Harper was said to have told him: “I’ll shake your hand, but I only have one thing to say to you: Get out of Ukraine.”...

Putin’s terse rejoinder was “that’s impossible because we are not there,” the Russian leader’s spokesman later told Canadian journalists. ... This is total nonsense. ...

More at Metanoodle.

Wayne Gretzky on "... one of the greatest prime ministers - ever"

Ukraine - CF fighters deployed to Europe

Today PM Harper committed to the deployment of six F-18s to Europe in response to NATO's call for help.  This adds to similar deployments from the USA:

... The Americans have so far sent 18 F-15 and F-16 jets to the region, which risked getting embroiled in a wider conflict Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin won approval to use armed force in eastern Ukraine if necessary on the pretext of protecting ethnic Russians.

A step in the right direction, but still insufficient to deter Putin.

Obama's musings on Ukraine - "what you expect from a Miss America contestant"

Charles Krauthammer:

“The United States does not view Europe as a battleground between East and West, nor do we see the situation in Ukraine as a zero-sum game. That’s the kind of thinking that should have ended with the Cold War.” - Barack Obama, March 24

'Should'. Lovely sentiment. As lovely as what Obama said five years ago to the United Nations: “No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation.”

That’s the kind of sentiment you expect from a Miss America contestant asked to name her fondest wish, not from the leader of the free world explaining his foreign policy.

The East Europeans know they inhabit the battleground between the West and a Russia that wants to return them to its sphere of influence. Ukrainians see tens of thousands of Russian troops across their border and know they are looking down the barrel of quite a zero-sum game. ...

... Obama’s dismissal of Russia as a regional power makes his own leadership of the one superpower all the more embarrassing. For seven decades since the Japanese surrender, our role under 11 presidents had been as offshore balancer protecting smaller allies from potential regional hegemons.

... Even Ukrainians are expressing regret at having given up their nukes in return for paper guarantees of territorial integrity. The 1994 Budapest Memorandum was ahead of its time — the perfect example of the kind of advanced 21st-century thinking so cherished by our president. ...

Ezra Levant reminded us recently of how, during a debate, Obama ridiculed Mitt Romney for stating that Russia was a great geopolitical threat, saying mockingly: "... the 1980's are now calling asking for their [cold war] policy back".  Ezra's excellent, updated reply on Mitt's behalf: "Hey Obama, Neville Chamberlain and Jimmy Carter called - they want their 1930's appeasement policy back".

"Harper is at his finest in standing up to Moscow"

It's rare that I agree with Michael den Tandt, but with this excellent column he's dead on!

... on the Ukraine file, since Russia’s illegal, duplicitous and reckless invasion of Crimea, the Prime Minister has been at his best. Both he and Foreign Minister John Baird deserve credit for the clear, principled and authoritative position they have taken, up to and including championing Russia’s indefinite suspension from the G8, now again the G7.

 Most of the critics of Stephen Harper's tough stand on Putin and Ukraine come off sounding like cheerleaders for the Chamberlain school of foreign policy.

It should quite obvious to everyone, as it most certainly is to Stephen Harper, that Canada alone does not carry a stick big enough (either economic or military) to threaten Vladimir Putin.  But that does not mean it is inappropriate for Harper to advocate for strong measures by members of our military and economic alliances. And many of them need all the help they can get to stiffen their spines. Tough talk (and action) aimed at constraining an obvious aggressor like Putin is exactly what is called for.