Readers React: Letters: Outmaneuvered by Vladimir Putin

Re “Watch Putin’s lips,” Opinion, April 20

I don’t like Russian President Vladimir Putin. I don’t like the way he is dismantling nascent Russian democracy, and I do not like the way he jailed Pussy Riot.

But the man is eating our lunch, and our foreign policy poohbahs cannot figure out why they are hungry.

When the Crimean caper comes to be analyzed, we will understand that Putin has served a valuable function. He has revealed our president as being clothed in a vaporous foreign policy based on holding hands and making the world a better place.

Look, President Obama said early on, I will cancel my predecessor’s well-designed missile defense system for Eastern Europe, I will give you a shiny “reset” toy for your desk, and all you have to do is give me a hand with our many problems, all caused by George W. Bush.

Putin, no fool, took all the freebies — and reached for more.

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati

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