US Presidential Aspirants Irresponsibly Bash Putin

US Presidential Aspirants Irresponsibly Bash Putin

by Stephen Lendman

Putin’s advocacy for peace, stability and multi-world polarity along with opposing US imperial lawlessness makes him America’s public enemy number one - recklessly bashed at a time US/Russian cooperation is vitally needed to avoid the unthinkable, a possible devastating nuclear confrontation.

US presidential aspirants represent America’s lunatic fringe - pro-war neocons talking tough on Russia, proliferating Big Lies, ignoring good sense.

Jeb Bush irresponsibly called Putin a “bully. Ultimately I think to deal with (him) you need to deal from strength,” he said.

“He’s a bully. You enable bad behavior when you're nuanced with a guy like that. I'm not talking about being bellicose - but saying 'here are the consequences of your actions,’ that would deter the kind of bad outcome we don't want to see.”

“Who can doubt that Russia will do what it pleases if its (nonexistent) aggression goes unanswered?”

Bush urges stiffer sanctions and a muscular military response (including “more robust”  exercises near Russia’s border) short of war.

In contrast, Donald Trump says “I’ll get along well with Vladimir Putin.” Asked to elaborate, he explained “I didn’t say I admire him.”

At the same time, he claimed “(t)he problem we have is the people running China, Mexico, Japan. All of the leaders of those countries are much sharper, smarter, more cunning than our leaders and they're taking advantage of us.”

Marco Rubio calls Putin a “gangster” - “an organized crime figure who controls a government and a large territory.”

He “kills people because they're his political enemies. If you're a political adversary of Vladimir Putin, you wind up with plutonium in your drink or shot in the street.”

He calls Russia a major threat to US security. “We have a gangster running the largest nuclear stockpile in the world.”

Scott Walker absurdly calls his anti-union agenda a signal of his toughness against Putin. Lindsey Graham accused him of “mucl(ing) (his) way around Europe.”

“What (he’s) trying to do is market the strongman concept. He has a brand and (it’s) to be in your face and say, ‘(w)e’re not going to be pushed around by the West.’ “

Ted Cruz calls Putin a “thug.” The “only negotiation that can be effective with (him) is from strength.” Chris Christie claims his brash style is needed to deal with Russia. “Vladimir Putin would never have to wonder what I thought was acceptable and what was unacceptable,” he said.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina calls Putin a “bad dude.” Rick Perry claims he “uses his energy to hold our allies hostage. If energy is going to be used as a weapon, I say America must have the largest arsenal.”

Mike Huckabee doesn’t know Palestine is occupied. He knows less about Russia, China and geopolitics. Rand Paul tries having things both ways. Earlier he distanced himself from Putin bashing. More recently he said “(i)f I were president, I wouldn’t let (him) get away with” anything.

Hillary Clinton believes EU leaders are “too wimpy” with Putin. Last year, she outrageously compared him to Hitler and Russia to Nazi Germany.

Paul Craig Roberts believes if elected president, she’d be “more likely to go to war with Russia” than any other aspirant.

Bernie Sanders brags about being more anti-Russian than Obama. “You’ve got to totally isolate them politically,” he says.

“You’ve got to totally isolate them economically…You freeze assets that the Russian government has all over the world…International corporations have huge investments in Russia…You could pull them out…”

All Republican and Democrat presidential aspirants represent America’s lunatic fringe. Reject them all. None deserve popular support.

All endorse dirty business as usual - endless wars, corporatism over populism, and harsh crackdowns on resistance.

America is a money-controlled fascist police state. Expect worse than ever governance no matter who succeeds Obama in January 2017.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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