Opinion – Theresa May Expels Russian Diplomats. But Now Comes the Hard Part – NYT – John Gelmini

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dr Alf is right.

The reality is that the poisoned ex spy was tried and then poisoned a long time ago, so the question then is who benefits all these years later from the poisoning of him, his daughter and the hapless British policeman.

We do not know but Mrs May whose political position is precarious and has the answer.
She has at best an 18 month shelf life and her measures against Russia will not work.
Expelling a few diplomats simply triggers a reciprocal response, freezing bank accounts of oligarchs simply gets those who have assets elsewhere to move them further offshore to tax havens not controlled by the UK.

Militarily, we have an army not much bigger than the Papal Guard, no coastal protection vessel, just 17 escort vessels for our shipping and less than 12000 cyber warriors, compared to 2 million in the GRU, and 5 million in Russia’s ally, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

We will want Russia’s assistance with the final settlement in Syria and we cannot survive as a modern economy without chromium. 75% of the world’s chrome comes from Russia and South Africa, so in a world where Vladimir Putin can tell South African Government ministers which ones to appoint and fire, whether we like it or not we have to deal with Vladimir Putin.

Mrs May has been out foxed and outclassed at every turn, so it is time we replaced her with a smarter operator along with her lacklustre cabinet. Before strutting about and calling people out, it is best to hold some high cards and be in a position to apply pressure that is effective. The UK is not in that position and Mrs May goes on making a fool of herself and making the country look stupid.

John Gelmini

Putin dares, Obama dithers | The Economist

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to this hard-hitting lead article from the Economist to hear Vladimir Putin, Russia has become the leader of a new global war on terrorism. More importantly, it continues that by contrast Barack Obama seems wearier by the day with the wars in the Muslim world that America has been fighting for more than a decade.

Source: Putin dares, Obama dithers | The Economist

The headline says it all, ‘Putin dares, Obama dithers’.

Obama’s foreign policy disasters will take decades to unfold but surely history will not be kind Obama? He will probably remembered  as a disaster. He’s too weak to take effective executive decisions. Perhaps, history will remember Obama as the ditherer?

If Obama was the Prime Minister of the UK, the knives would have been out long ago and he would have been hounded from office.

Perhaps, Obama can be encouraged to leave office early?

Thoughts?