Here Condoleezza Rice explains how a reduced U.S. defense budget indicates America’s lessened interest in being the world’s policeman. Hopefully Rice is correct in her view of policing the world. What Americans should know about the Pentagon’s modest defense budget cuts is that such a plan will lead to making America safer and more prosperous. Here in The Power Problem, Cato Institute’s Chris Preble details how.
“Meet Viktor Yanukovych, who is running for the presidency of Ukraine.” Vladimir Putin and I were standing in his office at the presidential dacha in late 2004 when Yanukovych suddenly appeared from a back room. Putin wanted me to get the point. He’s my man, Ukraine is ours — and don’t forget it.
The “Ukrainian problem” has been brewing for some time between the West and Russia. Since Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, the United States and Europe have tried to convince Russia that the vast territory should not be a pawn in a great-power conflict but rather an independent nation that could chart its own course. Putin has never seen it that way. For him, Kiev’s movement toward the West is an affront to Russia in a zero-sum game for the loyalty of former territories of the empire. The invasion and possible annexation of Crimeaon trumped-up concerns for its Russian-speaking population is his answer to us.
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