Krauthammer: Obama Statement 'Russia Is Weakened' Is 'Delusional'

On Thursday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer criticized President Barack Obama’s statement earlier that Russia had been weakened for its latest incursion into Ukrainian territory.

Krauthammer explained that gestures from U.S. officials not backed up by action show how weak the United States is and that Russia is ultimately coming out as the victor.

“Still though, [Samantha Power] ended up saying Russia has to stop lying,” he said. “Well, yes, but what are we going to do about it? What’s the point of saying all this? It just demonstrates how weak and irrelevant you are. Of course it’s not going to stop lying and it’s not going to stop anything its doing because observe and Obama and the West have not created enough cost. Of course we’re not going to put boots on the ground, but Obama could have said what he should have done three months ago — we’re going to now supply weapons to the Ukrainians so that as the Russians are marching in, it will raise the cost. He doesn’t have to say raise the cost.

“They’re not going to stop the Russian army if it invades en masse, but if it raises the cost, Obama will have to recalculate the cost of doing this,” Krauthammer added. “It looks as if what Putin is doing is creating a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean peninsula which is otherwise isolated. What does he mean by Russia is weakened? He’s delusional. Russia is in control of the naval resources of the Crimea which makes it the power in the Black Sea. It’s lusted to have this since the Ottoman times. He’s regained it and he’s now re-establishing — he’s essentially destroying eastern Ukraine and this is weakening him? I mean, the president is living on a planet where he thinks that, yes, ultimately the invasion isn’t going to work but between here and ultimately is going to be a lot of generations of suffering.”

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