Putin had his cake and ate it too, thanks to Obama

When President Obama accuses President-elect Trump of not taking the Russian threat or our democratic allies seriously, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Russian President Vladimir Putin is a very clever man, but he wasn’t internationally powerful until the United States gave him what he wanted during the Obama administration.

Obama and both of his Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry enabled and emboldened Russia, allowing Russia to bully eastern and central Europe, while harassing and threatening western Europe and NATO in ways that rival the Cold War, when Europe was divided into “spheres of influence.” Similarly in the Middle East, Russia achieved leverage and geopolitical advantage that it has not had in decades.