{"id":3269,"date":"2014-04-06T20:43:47","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T17:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/?p=3269"},"modified":"2017-11-14T21:28:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T19:28:16","slug":"my-fellow-citizens-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/my-fellow-citizens-2\/","title":{"rendered":"My fellow citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"President Barack Obama gained great notoriety with brilliant speeches in Berlin during his first run for office and in Cairo after his 2008 election. \u00a0Since then, like the absence of real strategic thinking by his administration regarding foreign policy, this great rhetoric has been missing in action. \u00a0With Russia\u2019s takeover of Crimea and the prospects for a new cold or at least cool war non-trivial, the time for a great speech is at hand.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
What might the president say? \u00a0In summary terms, he might lay out a vision for the future. \u00a0The central theme for this vision is what to do post-Crimea. \u00a0In that regard, the president must focus on the opportunities for game changing actions. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cFellow citizens of the United States and the world. \u00a0We are brought together by Russia\u2019s actions to seize Crimea and now mass thousands of troops on Ukraine\u2019s borders. \u00a0To many, this aggression provokes fears of an end to the post-Cold War era by disregarding well established borders based on the false premise of protecting ethnic minorities, in this case Russian. \u00a0To others, Russia\u2019s actions demand strong Western responses to protect Ukraine and smaller eastern and southern European states not under NATO\u2019s umbrella.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
I have a different view. \u00a0If Russia is to be part of the international community of nations and improving the well-being of her citizens is important, then isolation cannot be a desirable outcome. \u00a0Yet, that sad and tragic state is exactly where Moscow may be headed. \u00a0We need to work together to prevent that isolation from occurring. \u00a0But that requires cooperation and not confrontation from Russia.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
Publics need to be reminded of these consequences for Russia and also of certain facts, some of which I am saddened to say are forgotten or ignored even in my own country. \u00a0Some argue that like Crimea, the Baltics and even southern European member states of NATO are at risk to Russian aggression. \u00a0These critics miss a profound difference. \u00a0The Baltics, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria along with twenty other NATO members are signatories of the Washington Treaty. \u00a0Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are not.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
The foundation of the NATO treaty is Article V. \u00a0Article V states that an attack against one is an attack against all. \u00a0From Norway, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in the north to Romania, Bucharest and Turkey to the south, the U.S. absolutely stands by that moral and legal commitment on mutual defense. \u00a0This reaffirmation is meant as reassurance to allies and not provocation to others. \u00a0And make no mistake: in quiet and low key but effective ways, the U.S. is taking actions along with other allies to reinforce Article V.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
Some demand sending anti-ballistic missiles to Europe. \u00a0I wish they would read the news. \u00a0The U.S. is already deploying anti-ballistic missiles to Poland and Romania as well as permanently assigning four U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers with anti-ballistic capable missiles aboard to the Mediterranean. These missiles were not deployed against Russian strike systems. \u00a0However, their presence is a strong expression of continued and unwavering commitment to the defense of Europe.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
What else can be done? \u00a0Two major opportunities are potential game changers. \u00a0The first is TTIP or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. \u00a0The second is negotiations with Iran to end its nuclear ambitions. \u00a0Success in both will greatly advance movement to improve global peace, prosperity and security.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
Regarding TTIP, this agreement will free up markets on both sides of the Atlantic for goods, services and investment. \u00a0By most accounts, this will add hundreds of billions of dollars and euros to the GDP\u2019s of the Atlantic community. \u00a0This package needs to be approved as soon as possible even though I recognize that part of the oppostion resides in our own Congress by those who wrongly believe that TTIP will jeopardize American jobs. \u00a0That is not true. \u00a0And the best argument is to approve the treaty and count the benefits.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
Second, negotiations with Iran to prevent Tehran from achieving any nuclear weapons ambitions will be an extraordinary breakthrough. \u00a0We understand the difficulties of this negotiation. \u00a0However, the benefits for Iran and the world at large are too great to defer any attempt at agreement. \u00a0And, in the meantime, Iran has voluntarily accepted limits on its production of fissile fuel as negotiations continue.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
As Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities<\/span>, \u201cIt was the best of times, it the worst of times.\u201d \u00a0That formula applies today. \u00a0But we have it within reach to make this the better if not best of times. \u00a0We cannot fail but to try<\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
One hopes Mr. Obama is up to the task. \u00a0But we shall see.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Barack Obama gained great notoriety with brilliant speeches in Berlin during his first run for office and in Cairo after his 2008 election. \u00a0Since then, like the absence of real strategic thinking by his administration regarding foreign policy, this great rhetoric has been missing in action. \u00a0With Russia\u2019s takeover of Crimea and the prospects for a new cold or at least cool war non-trivial, the time for a great speech is at hand. \u00a0 What might the president say? \u00a0In summary terms, he might lay out a vision for the future. \u00a0The central theme for this vision is what to do post-Crimea. \u00a0In that regard, the president must focus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,84,76,86,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en","category-global-governance","category-harlan-ullman-en","category-international-peace-security","category-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3270,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269\/revisions\/3270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}