Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized U.S. foreign policy regarding Russia, led by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Corker argued Putin was doing what he was doing in Syria and the Ukraine at no cost of a response from the United States or NATO.
“If you talk to leaders in the region, what they tell you when they meet with Putin is Putin says, ‘Hey, look, I’m getting no pushback, I have no price to pay for what I’m doing,'” Corker said.
Corker reference President Barack Obama’s so-called red-line policy regarding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his use of chemical weapons. According to Corker, not acting more forcefully in that situation was a benefit to Putin.
“You remember in August, September of 2013 we jumped in his lap, didn’t we?” said Corker. “When we got them involved in dealing with the chemical weapons, and in many ways what we did, was assure that Assad would stay in power for some time, which is exactly what Putin wished.”
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