Vladimir Putin Not Guilty

Did Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin order the downing of Malaysian flight MH17 over Ukraine?

Pat Buchanan writes, “As for the downing of the Malaysian airliner, Putin did not order that. Sen. John Cornyn says U.S. intelligence has not yet provided any ‘smoking gun’ that ties the missile-firing to Russia.”

Not withstanding the above, the War Dogs are worked up into a full froth. As Pat notes, “Today the leading foreign policy voice of the Republican Party, Sen. John McCain, calls Obama’s White House ‘cowardly’ for not arming the Ukrainians to fight the Russian-backed separatists.”

The rub for the War Dogs here is that events in Ukraine, no matter how tragic, present no national security risk for America. Americans appear to have finally gotten the message on foreign intervention, entanglements and nation building. John McCain’s saber rattling weakens any opportunity Americans have for gutting the Marxist-tinged administration of Barrack Obama this fall, never mind taking control of the Senate.

I write regularly of the five essential elements of the original Weinberger Powell Doctrine. Americans need to use W/P as a template for foreign policy decision-making. For the record, adherence to W/P certainly would have prevented Congress, were Congress consulted, from going into Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afganistan (after the blown effort to kill bin Laden) or Libya. As for Syria and Ukraine, not a prayer. Not even close.