Condoleezza Rice: Ukraine Shows Need for US to be
World Leader
Friday, 07 Mar 2014 10:43 PM
By Cathy Burke
The unrest in Ukraine should be "a wake-up call" for
those who think America
doesn't need to assume the responsibilities of being a world leader, former
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
warned Friday.
In a Washington Post opinion
piece, Rice, who served from 2005-2009 in the administration of President
George W. Bush, said the United States can't "step back, lower its voice
about democracy and human rights and let others lead" because
"dictators and extremists across the globe will be emboldened."
Rice said the problem in Ukraine
"has been brewing for some time between the West and Russia," and in the near future, Russia
must be shown "that further moves will not be tolerated and that Ukraine’s
territorial integrity is sacrosanct."
"The longer-term task is to
answer Putin’s statement about Europe’s
post-Cold War future," she said. "He is saying that Ukraine will
never be free to make its own choices — a message meant to reverberate in
Eastern Europe and the Baltic states — and that Russia has special interests it
will pursue at all costs.... He will turn the clock back as far as intimidation
through military power, economic leverage and Western inaction will
allow."
After Russian's invasion of
Georgia in 2008, modest steps taken by the United States — including sending
ships into the Black Sea and humanitarian aid — "did not hold."
"And then the Obama
administration’s 'reset' led to an abrupt revision of plans to deploy missile
defense components in the Czech Republic and Poland," she wrote.
"Talk of Ukraine and Georgia’s
future in NATO ceased. Moscow
cheered."
This time, Rice wrote, things have
to be different.
"Putin is playing for the
long haul, cleverly exploiting every opening he sees," she wrote.
"So must we, practicing
strategic patience if he is to be stopped. Moscow
is not immune from pressure," including "authorizing the Keystone XL
pipeline and championing natural gas exports," and reaching out to Russian
youth to let the know America
supports "their ambitions."
"Most important, the United States
must restore its standing in the international community, which has been eroded
by too many extended hands of friendship to our adversaries, sometimes at the
expense of our friends," she wrote.
"Inaction" in Syria, "signs that we are desperate for a
nuclear agreement with Iran,"
the declining U.S. defense
budget and a possible withdrawal from Afghanistan "signal that we no
longer have the will or intention to sustain global order," she wrote.
Abandoning our leadership role,
Rice wrote, will open a vacuum that will be filled by extremists like al-Qaeda,
dictators like Bashar al-Assad and "the likes of Vladimir Putin, who
understands that hard power still matters."
Condoleeza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), an
overseer at the International Rescue Committee, a trustee at the
Aspen Institute (think tank), and a 2008
Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Note: World View: Henry Kissinger Says Vladimir Putin Wants a Way Out
(Past Research)
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Henry A.
Kissinger is a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States
(think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, was a
lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a board
member for the International Crisis Group, and was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think
tank), the International Rescue Committee, the Climate Reality
Project, the Urban Institute (think tank), and the Committee for
Economic Development.
Thomas
R. Pickering is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a co-chair for
the International Crisis Group, was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank), and a U.S.
ambassador for Russia.
Michael
K. Powell is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is Colin
L. Powell’s son.
Colin L.
Powell is Michael K. Powell’s father, an overseer at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and
a strategic limited partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Albert A.
Gore Jr. is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and
the chairman for the Climate Reality Project.
Charles
P. Rose Jr. is an investor in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,
the executive producer & host for the Charlie Rose Show, and a
friend of Warren E. Buffett.
Warren E.
Buffett is a friend of Charles P. Rose Jr., a life trustee at the Urban
Institute (think tank), and an underwriter for the Nuclear Tipping Point.
Ted Turner
is an underwriter for the Nuclear Tipping Point, and the founder of CNN.
Walter
Isaacson was the chairman & CEO for CNN, and is the president
& CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Henry A.
Kissinger was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank), is interviewed in the Nuclear Tipping Point,
a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), an
overseer at the International Rescue Committee, a director at the
American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
William J.
Perry is interviewed in the Nuclear Tipping Point, and an honorary
director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
George P.
Shultz is interviewed in the Nuclear Tipping Point, an honorary
director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and
was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.
Richard
H. Davis is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and
a managing director at Davis Manafort.
Viktor
F. Yanukovich is a Davis Manafort client, and was the president of
the Ukraine.
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