Jeb Bush seeks stronger steps against Putin, avoids specifics

[webfact]

Bush seeks stronger steps against Putin, avoids specifics
By THOMAS BEAUMONT

BERLIN (AP) — Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush is warning Russia that if he becomes president, the U.S. will do more to tamp down Vladimir Putin's aggression, especially in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, and to "isolate his corrupt leadership from his people." But Bush did little to tip his hand on what those steps would be.

In his first foreign speech of the 2016 campaign, Bush criticized what he called dramatic declines in U.S. military spending, suggesting that has undercut credibility as Washington and its allies confront threats in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Putin, he said, must know in advance that there will be consequences to his actions, because the Russian president is a ruthless pragmatist who "will push until someone pushes back."

Bush was critical of what he termed a reactive approach to crisis in Eastern Europe by the Obama administration. But his prescriptions were largely along the lines of what the U.S. is already doing, primarily pushing economic sanctions on Russia and sending military equipment and economic aid to Ukraine.

As for NATO military exercises being conducted in Eastern Europe, Bush agreed they were "forward-leaning" and a useful signal to Moscow of the alliance's determination. "I think we should probably do it more robustly," he said.

The former Florida governor addressed a major economic conference in Berlin and took questions from the audience as part of a trip that precedes his planned announcement in Miami on Monday that he is running for the 2016 nomination, a decision his aides have confirmed is already made. He's also visiting former Eastern bloc countries Poland and Estonia.

Bush was given a prominent platform — the economic council of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union, and she followed him to the stage about an hour later. But the two did not encounter each other after the conference and she didn't mention him in her remarks.

Many in the audience of 2,000 broke into applause when Bush invoked his father, George H.W. Bush, who was president when the Soviet Union collapsed, Eastern European nations turned to their own destiny and Germany reunited as the Berlin Wall dividing East and West came down. But he did not mention George W. Bush, his brother and two-term president of the last decade, who was unpopular in Western Europe when he left office, but had a solid relationship with Merkel.

"That reunification, as you all know, was not inevitable," Bush said. "Many leaders doubted. Many of the people even in this country doubted. Many people in the United States as well doubted whether it should be attempted." But due to Chancellor Helmut Kohl's determination and with the elder Bush's support, he said, "Germany is whole and Germany is free."

Without many specifics, Bush called for deeper economic and security ties with eastern European nations vulnerable to Russian meddling. "Russia must respect the sovereignty of all of its neighbors," Bush said. But as NATO confronts crisis, he said, it must do so in a way that does not push Russia away for another generation.

Bush, like most Republican White House prospects, supports sanctions on Russia and the delivery of military equipment and aid to Ukraine, where separatists, believed backed by Putin, are fighting the Western-backed government in Kiev.

His speech did not propose to take the U.S. in a new direction in that crisis or in diplomacy with Europe broadly, except to say that the U.S. armed forces must be strengthened and Washington must be clearer to adversaries about the consequences of their actions. His visit came a day after President Barack Obama wrapped up a Group of Seven meeting at a Bavarian resort where he and Merkel affirmed ties between the two nations.

The U.S. and Germany — as well as Poland and Estonia — are NATO allies that work closely together on a host of diplomatic issues, among them Ukraine and Iran's nuclear program. Germany is also the U.S.'s strongest European trading partner, and Bush has praised Estonia and Poland as fast emerging free-market success stories.

While it's popular for Republican presidential prospects to condemn Putin, it's also a way to criticize the Obama administration's foreign policy, carried out during his first term by then Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, now a Democratic presidential candidate.

Bush has said Obama has ceded to Germany too much of the diplomatic burden in Europe, chiefly for rallying approval for sanctions against Russia for its backing of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. European leaders, particularly French President Francois Hollande and Merkel, have taken the lead on Russian-Ukraine peace agreements.

Bush also was scheduled to meet Germany's finance minister, Poland's president and president-elect, and Estonia's president.

Although Bush has traveled extensively overseas while and since serving two terms as Florida governor, the trip is aimed primarily at strengthening his credentials overseas. Governors who run for president often lack foreign policy experience or are seen that way.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-10

[DarrenLittlewood]

please, please, please don't give us another Bush

[worgeordie]

Another warmongering Bush,America,won't, would they.

regards worgeordie

[Dannyboy666]

No More Bush...

[konying]

Of course he does , family are experts at starting wars. Can only hope people in U.S. Have more brains than those leading them, or I should say wanting to lead

[Srikcir]

At least this Bush won't have the issue of finding WMD's in Russia.

[Publicus]

Putin turned openly hard nosed against the United States while GW Bush was president.

As we're seeing, JEB doesn't know any more about Russia than his brother did or his father before him.

Reagan pushed Soviet Russia off the cliff and HRC will put Wiley E Coyote Putin hanging off a limb and dangling.

[bendejo]

Shave off the Bush!

And no hypotheticals!

[lifeincnx]

Just remember, Jeb was a signatory to PNAC, the Project for the New American Century. These were the wonderful people (Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Rumsfeld, etc.) who came up with the brilliant idea of going to war against Iraq. All they needed was a 'Pearl Harbor' to implement their wrong-headed thesis; 9/11 foot the bill and we as a planet have paid for it ever since.

This man must not be allowed anywhere near the White House, except to take the public tour.

[elgordo38]

please, please, please don't give us another Bush

Yep if he is elected president we will have another war maybe world war 3. He does not want to be outdone by his brother and father. Jeb better be careful with Putin he will eat Jeb for lunch and spit out his bones. As usual its all double speak with Jeb as stated above he is avoiding specifics. I have seen Putin with out a shirt on Jeb in a fair fight he could make you his well you know starts with a B. Russians learn to be leaner and meaner thats why the Russian mafia flourishs all over the planet.

[Jingthing]

Yeah, but a kind of WW3 may be necessary now. No choice as there wasn't in WW2. I'm sure Hillary the Hawk will be up to it!

There is already a cold war between the west and Russia (and a REAL Ukraine war).

China is developing (predictably) into a bully.

And don't even get started about global Islamic Jihad and the Middle East ... what a mess!

Edited June 10, 2015 by Jingthing

[Publicus]

India has found itself drifting away from Putin's Russia for several years now while the CCP Boyz in Beijing keep Russia at arm's length lest Putin cart off all of the Boyz' forex reserves in the name of loans.

Brazil knows that between Russia and the CCP Boyz it's the Boyz who can throw the bucks around, not Putin who's only getting more hard pressed for the USD$ by the week.

Neither India nor Iran like getting pinched between Moscow and Beijing each of which sees India and Iran as being in its own back yard. India is working closely with US allies and partners in the South China Sea, Vietnam especially and Malaysia in particular too, the fact of which makes the Boyz literally red.

In security terms Japan is already to Asia as the UK used to be to Europe, especially occupied Europe.

We'll see how all of this and more shakes out as the alignments and realignments will be interesting indeed.

John Ellis Bush will be the most surprised of anyone cause he has no clue.

[pattayasnowman]

Not another Bush and the crazy NeoCons unless you want this :

Edited June 10, 2015 by pattayasnowman

[Basil B]

Please Mr Cameron... Do not join America in another of their crazy wars...

Forget the referendum on Europe, lets get out of NATO now.

[ABCer]

None of my business as I'm not an American. This is on one hand.

On the other hand USA politics affects all of us. At least potentially.

Therefore I would've been happier if Americans stopped "beating about the Bush".

'Bushy' politics have trained Americans to expect boo-boo decisions from the White House.

So much so as to accept Obaminism almost as norm.

USA has many fine brains. Why not to elect one for a change?

Putin isn't much of a thinker. But what does Jeb Bush know about Putin, Kremlin, Russia, China, Europe or the whole World?

Some fine day the White House boo-boo will turn out too big for all of us.

[Jingthing]

Obama has a very fine brain. That isn't always the thing.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[h90]

Of course he does , family are experts at starting wars. Can only hope people in U.S. Have more brains than those leading them, or I should say wanting to lead

Sure they make a lot profit on it....

[h90]

please, please, please don't give us another Bush

But if you don't get a Bush, you get Hillary, she also likes war....Maybe better but not much.

[ABCer]

Just remember, Jeb was a signatory to PNAC, the Project for the New American Century. These were the wonderful people (Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Rumsfeld, etc.) who came up with the brilliant idea of going to war against Iraq. All they needed was a 'Pearl Harbor' to implement their wrong-headed thesis; 9/11 foot the bill and we as a planet have paid for it ever since.

This man must not be allowed anywhere near the White House, except to take the public tour.

With one clear distinction:

Pearl Harbor was not conceived by Americans.

[brling]

please, please, please don't give us another Bush

or a Clinton.

[Jingthing]

please, please, please don't give us another Bush

or a Clinton.

No Clinton blood relation is running.

She's a Rodham.

[Chicog]

It seems his campaign is rather going tits up at the moment.

[Publicus]

It's been the trend of his campaign, its steadily downward trajectory.

Bush is the most unpopular name in Republican party politics.....the nation.

Fact is JEB isn't up to the task, on the issues especially. He's also much too involved in running his campaign, which means he doesn't trust his top advisers, strategists, operatives. And they don't trust or have confidence in him. He just fired his campaign manager, as if that poor sap is to blame.

The Bush people and family haven't been able to keep the candidates down to a small manageable number for JEB either. Walker and Rubio are each beginning to count up each's take of JEB's campaign bucks.

Reagan picked the wrong Bush.

[JDGRUEN]

You Liberal - Leftist guys are wasting your posting going on and on about Jeb Bush... Despite the RNC and GOP propaganda Jeb is Dead Last ... Jeb keeps running into walls everywhere. Because not 1% of Conservatives will vote for him.

Jeb Bush's Presidential campaign platform comes closer to H.Clinton than R. Reagan. The Dems would be better off nominating Jeb Bush... Jeb would have to do little more than change Party Affiliation to run on the Democrat Platform.

My prediction - Jeb Bush will not come close to winning any primary and will drop out after New Hampshire - if not before.

Jeb Bush is the wrong man at the wrong time with the wrong message, with the wrong party.

But the deaf - dumb and blind Republican National Committee will work to nominate Jeb... despite that fact that he can barely register on any scale of the Conservative Core Voters of the Republican Party - the largest single segment of the Republican Party.

You guys save your strength for writing glib words about Cruz, Walker and a few others.

Edited June 11, 2015 by JDGRUEN

[Thongkorn]

At least this Bush won't have the issue of finding WMD's in Russia.

There is strong Talk of stationing Cruise misiles in Britain again . a bit ironic. WMD

[Publicus]

You Liberal - Leftist guys are wasting your posting going on and on about Jeb Bush... Despite the RNC and GOP propaganda Jeb is Dead Last ... Jeb keeps running into walls everywhere. Because not 1% of Conservatives will vote for him.

Jeb Bush's Presidential campaign platform comes closer to H.Clinton than R. Reagan. The Dems would be better off nominating Jeb Bush... Jeb would have to do little more than change Party Affiliation to run on the Democrat Platform.

My prediction - Jeb Bush will not come close to winning any primary and will drop out after New Hampshire - if not before.

Jeb Bush is the wrong man at the wrong time with the wrong message, with the wrong party.

But the deaf - dumb and blind Republican National Committee will work to nominate Jeb... despite that fact that he can barely register on any scale of the Conservative Core Voters of the Republican Party - the largest single segment of the Republican Party.

You guys save your strength for writing glib words about Cruz, Walker and a few others.

You Liberal - Leftist guys are wasting your posting going on and on about Jeb Bush...

Wrong again.

The post comes from the Republican party extreme hard core far out dogmatic and ideological right.

The liberal and even the outlier leftist view as you call it are valid and worthy of everyone's serious consideration.

Fact is the far out right knows less about US politics and government than the Independent voter in the center/middle because the Independent and other centrist voters are moderate and measured, so they therefore decide the balance of a given election.

The right is instead always stuck out there on the margins on the outside looking in. It's our blessing that youse guyz always give us the R party nominee, so keep up the great work over there.

[geriatrickid]

The attacks on Jeb are predictable: He's too soft, He's a hawk, There'll be a war,

As an outsider, I have the impression that the man is a calm pragmatist who won't repeat the errors of appointing idiot advisers or appointing a wacko VP. The real threat remains the people who will populate the US Congress. They set the tone. If they want a war, then war it will be. If they want to push damaging ideologies and fight amongst themselves, then welcome to more dysfunction. Sadly I fear we will be seeing more of the Grahams, Pauls and McConnells and less of the Frankens and Leahys in the Senate and a house of reps controlled by mental cripples.

[Publicus]

A president from the Republican party would need to appoint fringe marginals in his own party to cabinet positions and to the subcabinet positions of the Executive Branch. And there is a proliferation of fringe orbiters in the R party.

Prez Eisehhower had Evita Culp Hobby of the John Birch Society as his secretary of Health and Human Services (Health, Education and Welfare back then). Mrs Hobby spent the 1940s, 50s, 60s hysterically screaming about "creeping socialism" in the United States, and Ike had the warmonger John Foster Dulles as SecState in his cabinet, among other lunar modules from the extreme lunatic right of his time.

Nixon had the Watergate convicted felon John Mitchell as attorney general, fired another AG who wouldn't fire Watergate special prosecutors investigators etc etc....

Same for Reagan, same for the Presidents Bush...this wannabe Jeb Bush or any Republican would have the present day lunar modules in his Executive Branch, not to mention to any vacancies on SCOTUS. Can you see Mike Huckabee as Secretary of Education railing against science and same sex marriage etc etc, and Dr Ben Carson as secretary of Health and Human Services etc etc. Remember SecDef Rumsfeld, UN Ambassador John Bolton, Iraq Administrator Paul Brenner etc etc...

I can see it because all of us have seen it before or know of it and it ain't pretty.

[JohnOFphon]

Jeb is another escaped character from Mad Magizine. I'm afraid the world is headed trouble, no matter who leads.

Like one guy here says: "Glad I'm old."

[JDGRUEN]

As opposed to the topic thread 'litter bug' who has appeared again who sees the U.S. through a lens of socialism and leftism ... I see the U.S. through a lens he thinks does not exist because almost 8 years of Obama has caused him to have tunnel vision and he does not see or understand that at least 1/2 of Americans want no part of anything remotely related to what has gone on over this dreadful nearly 8 years. Therefore, the accurate prediction is liberal lite Jeb will never cut it with Conservative voters who will dominate the Primary voting. 'Out of touch' Jeb will not make it through the primaries - not to mention be able to do anything to take stronger steps against Putin.

In this same vein that several times on this Forum - two and three years ago - I correctly predicted that years down the road there would be no significant change in the ability of the Left to take guns away from Americans, I predict that Jeb Bush will disintegrate politically from lack of any serious block of voters wanting him. The Conservative block which in cases like this carry along the more moderate voter to the polls. Because they too want nothing of Common Core in the America Classroom, nor do they want wholesale Amnesty and certainly do not want to risk the Presidential Elections on a man named Bush - a name the Left has excoriated. The hatchet job the American Left wing did on the Bush name means no one named Bush will be elected President until the year 2100 - if then.

American Liberals and Leftist and the American Left leaning news media want a Jeb Bush to run to help assure a Democrat win and /or just in case by some miracle of miracles Jeb should survive the Primaries and go on to win - then a Liberal Lite Republican would be better than a Conservative President to them.

Liberals and now Leftist who control the Democrat Party and the Left Leaning News Media LOVE to push and shove a Republican Presidential candidate into the Running - this has been their hobby for much longer than a decade. Thus the Republican Party the GOP and RNC continually puts up loser after loser -- Dole, McCain and Romney. Dole - a nice man - wounded war veteran, stellar human being... but a man of machine politics who could not deal with the articulate Bill Clinton. John McCain an erratic old guy suffering from dementia with the cognitive powers of a squirrel who doesn't know an ISIS Terrorist from a Freedom Fighter and actually took photos patting them on the back. And finally Romney - a good American who spent 20 years trying to get elected to something besides Governor - namby-pamby Liberal Lite guy who when handed the perfect storm in the Debates with Obama folded like a Jack Knife.

None of this is going to happen this time around. A strong campaigner - a much strong candidate will be picked this time.

Republican Elitist politicos (RINOs) the likes of Jeb Bush do not grasp it but there has been an Internet since the late 1990's and now it is the mainstay of news gatherings for tens of millions of voters. We know what they stand for and when they stand for nothing.

Jeb Bush even thinking that he will be taking stronger steps to deal with Putin is vastly premature silliness. What a ridiculous fantasy that he and his handlers have going in their heads when Jeb in actuality is likely to have to dodge Iowa just to keep from having to resign early from the Primaries.

If you do not know some of my political references here, then you know little about American Politics.

Edited June 13, 2015 by JDGRUEN