Sunday, March 02, 2014

Putin cooks up Obama’s chicken Kiev moment - FT.com

Matt Kenyon illustrationPutin cooks up Obama’s chicken Kiev moment - FT.com:



Diplomacy is the US president’s preferred weapon. Now he must prove he can wield it

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In the dying days of the Soviet Union, President George H W Bush gave a speech in Kiev urging Ukrainian nationalists not to provoke Moscow. US conservatives dubbed it his “chicken Kiev” speech. Having long since been branded America’s appeaser-in-chief, President Barack Obama now confronts his own chicken Kiev moment. Can Mr Obama stand up to Vladimir Putin, the Russian fox circling the chicken coop? It is unclear whether he has the will and the skill – let alone the means – to do so. Yet the future of his presidency depends on it. There can be little doubt that Mr Putin wants to restore the boundaries of the Russian empire. Mr Obama must somehow find a way to frustrate him.

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