On Saturday, the day after President Obama addressed the nation on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) made a statement. As per his usual self, McCain made sure to undermine the President regarding his foreign policy strategy. At the same time, he pushed for the US to commit to sending troops into Ukraine and confronting Russia directly.
Below is McCain’s full statement:
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“I am deeply concerned that Russia’s ongoing military intervention in Crimea may soon expand to eastern Ukraine. Yesterday, President Obama said that Russia would face ‘costs’ if it intervened militarily in Ukraine. It is now essential for the President to articulate exactly what those costs will be and to take steps urgently to impose them.
Russia’s use of force in Ukraine is unfolding in clear violation of Russia’s own commitments to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. None of us should be under any illusion about what President Putin is capable of doing in Ukraine, especially now that he has requested, and the Russian Duma has approved, the deployment of Russian troops, not just in Crimea but in the country of Ukraine.
Every moment that the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in Ukraine. There is a range of serious options at our disposal at this time without the use of military force. I call on President Obama to rally our European and NATO allies to make clear what costs Russia will face for its aggression and to impose those consequences without further delay.”
Make no mistake about McCain’s statement that there are other options available without resorting to military force. He wants the United States to go to war and he wants it to happen yesterday. He’s been banging the war drums especially hard lately, whether it is Iran, Syria or Russia. He not only wants to push us into a full-scale war, he wants to try to make the President look like a weak leader while doing so.
However, nobody is taking McCain seriously anymore. The President isn’t going to listen to anything he says, and McCain’s sphere of influence has rapidly shrunk the past few years. Other than maybe Senators Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham, nobody on Capitol Hill is really joining forces with McCain when he goes off on his hawkish tirades. While Republicans in Washington love to rip the President for every decision he makes, most also know that the American people have no appetite for another war. The recent situation with Syria made that abundantly clear.
Once again, we just see bitter, angry old man McCain taking out his frustrations with the 2008 election results every time he goes off on one of these hackneyed rip jobs on the President. He is so transparent and impossible to take as a serious foreign policy expert. He just wants to shake his fist angrily at the White House and claim that the President doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s become the crazy uncle at Thanksgiving dinner that only reads WND and The Blaze and watches Fox News 24/7.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
