Obama and Russia - The actions and policies of President Obama, in relation to Russia, are exactly what one might expect from a president who was born of pro-Soviet parents and mentored by a likely KGB operative https://jrnyquist.blog/2020/02/07/obama-and-russia/

During his presidency Obama was eager to assist Russia technologically and economically. Obama’s Russia “reset” policy, begun in 2009, was explained by Hillary Clinton with the following words: “Our goal is to help strengthen Russia.” [2] — And this is exactly what they did.

First came the Uranium One deal, which gave the Russians access to 20 percent of America’s (strategically important) uranium production

Then came $1 billion for a Russian tech park at Skolkovo, outside Moscow. [4] All of this was facilitated by the Obama administration; and it was done despite Russia’s ongoing policy of transferring dangerous materials and technologies to rogue regimes

This was also done despite Moscow’s dismal human rights record — which included the killing of journalists like Anna Politkovskaya and the assassination of overseas dissidents like Alexander Litvinenko

Obama also negotiated a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, formally titled “Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.” The treaty undercut U.S. efforts to modernize its aging nuclear deterrent

Obama's policies were, in fact, carefully calculated to put the United States at a military disadvantage, which is now apparent as America’s European allies find themselves suddenly outgunned by the Russians

Russia’s military buildup accelerated throughout the Obama years. Yet Obama never expressed the slightest concern. In fact, he mocked those who showed concern.

After the arms reduction treaty was in effect, Russia began an intensive anti-American media campaign, which began in early 2012 and reached a fever pitch in April 2014.

Obama also ignored the Russian media’s public denunciations, making no serious effort to rebuke or counter the Kremlin’s Cold War propaganda. (In fact, many older Russians have noted that this propaganda was far worse than anything seen during the Cold War.)

In 2012 & 2013 the Russians held impromptu secret discussions with Obama, Hillary Clinton & John Kerry. These were meetings without any official record of what was said, without witnesses or even translators present. Such meetings are considered highly irregular — even suspicious

These secret meetings were handled in a way that offered no transparency to the American side — no means by which other Americans could see what Obama and his Secretaries of State were up to

In the presidential campaign of 2012 Obama scolded Mitt Romney for suggesting that Russia was our greatest threat.

The first meeting in the 2012 series was the South Korean meeting when presidents Obama and Medvedev were caught on a hot microphone. We know only part of what was said. The conversation hinted at a deeper, closer, more far-teaching cooperation between Obama and the Russians

How could this be explained at the time? We are reminded by Ambassador Michael McFaul, that the Kremlin had already begun an intensive anti-American media campaign which included Russian reports that U.S. Ambassador McFaul was a child molester working to overthrow Putin.

Why would Obama be so nice to the Russians in this situation? He should have been angered and offended by their treatment of his ambassador (who was the architect of the Russia reset policy).

Yet Obama always acted the part of a helpful and subservient person when it came to Russia. According to McFaul’s detailed account, Putin treated Obama like a subordinate. Everyone knew Putin was top dog in Russian politics.

At each meeting Putin disdained Obama & showed no interest in engaging with him as an equal. At their 1st meeting in 7/2009, Putin subjected Obama to a humiliating lecture. Yet Obama was eager to please Putin, listening to the Russian leader with a patience that astonished McFaul

In 2012 Ambassador McFaul noticed an inexplicable turnabout in the Kremlin’s disinformation regime — a sudden departure from the usual “Cold War tropes.”

As McFaul put it, “Putin’s regime added a new dimension to the ideological struggle — conservative, moral, nationalist Russia versus the liberal, immoral, internationalist West.”

It's important to understand the background to all this. The Communist Party & its hidden structures ruled Russia after 1991 as they had during the Cold War. Russia’s supposed turn towards capitalism & democracy was a political trick — not unlike that of Stalin during World War 2

Already the Kremlin had developed a plan of action which would uncannily unfold along familiar lines — leading to the famous Mueller investigation and widespread American press hysteria over supposed Russian interference in the 2016 election

In 2015 & 2016 Obama’s intel deputies played a prominent role in luring Trump campaign officials to meetings with supposed Russians. We do not know as yet how widespread the effort was to manufacture evidence to prove Republicans were “colluding” with Russia,

Once the Russian Collussion narrative was launched, now, all of a sudden, Obama was willing to view Russia as a threat to American democracy.

Of course, Obama did not actually say Russia was a military threat. He said Russia was an electoral threat. This was an extraordinary rebranding of Obama and the Democratic Party.

Obama’s crew of subversives and crypto-communists took up the cudgels of the House Un-American Activities Committee. The Un-Americans went into the business of prosecuting American nationalism as Russian subversion. It was a bizarre formulation, partaking of the genius of Stalin.

This was the beginning of a game — accusations of Russian Collusion which would ultimately lead to the impeachment inquiry of autumn 2019. All to Russian's advantage and the weakening of America.

This was set up in 2012 as the Kremlin & Obama Admin coordinated a transition from the chummy days of the Russian “reset” to the sudden transformation of the American left into vigilant hounds of counterintel, conveniently focused on the leading GOP presidential candidate of 2016

In May 2012 Vladimir Putin angrily charged that Obama had interfered in Russia’s presidential elections of that year. Obama did not push back. All the way, he was making America weaker against Moscow.

In August 2012 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent four hours in an impromptu meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — absent all witnesses, including translators. Clinton emerged without accounting for what was said.

Yet another secret meeting occurred after John Kerry became Secretary of State, after he flew to Moscow in May 2013. There were no witnesses or translators as Kerry and Lavrov met for two hours. What was actually discussed? Why were the translators kept out?

Whatever was going on behind closed doors, Obama perfected a kind of doublespeak about Russia. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, reporters reminded Obama what Romney had said about Moscow being a threat. Obama pushed back against the reporters.

Given Russia’s status as a nuclear superpower with the world’s most modern ICBMs, Obama downplayed the fact of Russian military aggression. Once again, Obama’s behavior was that of someone who was trying to diffuse Western vigilance.

Obama was also keen to overlook Moscow’s meddling in the Western Hemisphere — in Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Why did Obama act in this way?

During Obama’s second term, the sanctions he passed against Russia were more an invitation to aggression than a method of deterrence. In fact, Obama’s actual response to Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine has been described by experts as “minimalist.”

Of course, the leftist mainstream media trumpeted news of Obama’s sanctions as if they were backbreaking measures. But they were not. In fact, Russia was not sanctioned at all.

A large body of former US govt officials signed a bipartisan doc recommending the imposition of “real costs” on Russia. The measures included serious assistance to Ukraine. When Obama refused to accept these recommendations further Russian aggression occurred in Luhansk & Donetsk

Obama continued to shield Russia from the consequences of its actions even as Russian tank columns entered Ukraine’s eastern territories. This was Obama’s attitude in spite of America’s obligation to defend Ukraine in accordance with the Budapest memorandum.

Why?

Obama’s unwillingness to seriously oppose Russia carried over into the Middle East, especially with regard to the Syrian civil war. Despite promising to bomb Syria in the event of chemical weapon use, Obama did everything in his power to avoid following through

Obama attempted to pass the responsibility for making a decision to the Republicans in Congress; then he secretly met with President Putin, pleading for a way out. Putin offered to persuade the Syrians to eliminate their own chemical weapons (which they did not actually do).

It was as if Obama was desperately seeking to avoid a direct clash w/Moscow, in keeping with years of hidden fealty. Witnesses at his 2013 meeting w/Putin in St Petersburg said he was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of bombing Russia’s ally. His top advisers didn’t know why