Bolton, echoing Joe Biden, said that Obama would be challenged internationally by foreign powers who seek to test the young administration. He said that Obama’s weak reaction to Georgia during the campaign coupled with his skepticism regarding missile defense has emboldened a resurgent Russia [bold mine-DL]. ~Philip Klein

It’s no surprise that John Bolton is saying this, and it’s not exactly shocking that Bolton is completely wrong about something relating to international affairs, but what is remarkable about this is that anyone could make such a statement now and expect to be taken seriously. Oil prices have gone into a nosedive, Russian currency and gold reserves have been vanishing rapidly and Russia’s resurgence in terms of real power has been put on hold. All of this had already happened before Obama was elected and well before he came into office. How he has emboldened a state that is more preoccupied with protests over imported cars is unclear, and it is even less clear what difference it would make if a weakened Russia were actually emboldened at the present time. What exactly would they do? So far, the administration has not done anything particularly provocative or insulting, which for the Boltons of the world is the same thing as surrender and retreat. Obama’s skepticism regarding the missile defense installations in central Europe is appropriate, and after a brief flirtation with sanity Obama stuck to the establishment line on Georgia and “Russian aggression.” Incredibly, he and Biden are still advocates for Georgian membership in NATO. If anything, Obama’s Russia advisor McFaul is too inclined to support the same kind of misguided Russia policy that we have had in the past, and the administration remains too wedded to positively harmful policies, including NATO expansion and this missile defense plan. Bolton is bound to frame such provocative policies as “weak,” because that is what he does, but I don’t know why anyone else should be listening to him.

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