Resetting with Russia Did Wonders

As Hillary Clinton kicks off her campaign with vague promises of helping lift families out of despair and making America strong again, it is necessary for us to look back at her accomplishments in life. As such, perhaps it is time we put her accomplishments on a milk carton in the hopes that someone will find them.

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Of her numerous botches as Secretary of State, one of the first major events we recall is the offering of a “reset” button with Russia. It was an attempt to let the past be the past and let the future be filled with hopeful promises and rainbows probably. What actually happened is that we reset too far and Russia went back to being somewhere between World War II and the Cold War. Hostility between the two nations increased, even while the Obama administration smiled and waved as though everything was fine.

POLITICO Magazine, oddly, begins spelling out the administration’s failures in Russia and even extends the idea that the same could happen in Iran. I won’t post many quote-chunks because I encourage you to read the whole thing as a fascinating, though not as condemning as perhaps we on the right would like, indictment of this administration’s handling of other countries. Here’s how it starts, though:

Previously, President Obama had said that the nuclear framework agreement between Iran and the P5+1 last week will provide “the most robust and intrusive inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated for any nuclear program in history.” Unfortunately, past American efforts to enforce arms control agreements offer reason to doubt that the United States will actually hold Iran accountable for any violations–just as Khamenei’s speech suggests that Tehran will take full advantage of this.

One 1987 arms control agreement between the United States and Russia is a case in point.

[…]

In May 2012, after a failed attempt the year before, Russia successfully test-launched the RS-26 Rubezh (Russian for “frontier”) missile at a distance of 5,800 km — a distance far enough to qualify as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which the INF does not prohibit. But subsequent tests of the Rubezh featured a modified, heavier payload that reduced its range to approximately 2,000 km, which the INF Treaty does prohibit, thereby signaling a prior, longer-term Russian intention to violate it.

In 2013, the Obama administration inexplicably dismissed claims that the Rubezh test-launch may have violated the INF. It was not until January 2014 that American officials shifted course and informed NATO of a potential Russian INF violation, and not until July of the same year that the State Department officially accused Russia of violating the Treaty.

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This also leads us to the breaking news of the morning: Putin is lifting the ban on selling certain military technology: the S-300 missile system.

The Obama administration has failed the country in dealing with these two nations, and the fault for at least one of them lies with Hillary Clinton, a contender for 2016. The reset button was a photo op that will appear to have backfired to anyone who sees this news and remembers what it was supposed to do.

The only button with relation to Hillary Clinton that I recommend was developed by the talented minds over at the Free Beacon. Enjoy.

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