Obama's middle eastern leg of the apology tour... he threw Israel under the bus, emboldening Iran, and their proxies in the region.
That's called posturing. While it's often deep with significance, it's not always followed by actual actions.
Sure lets not offend the Russians. Apparently they are unconcerned about our sensitive feelings (Iran sanctions, fuel cut-off to the Ukraine in winter, weapons (well beyond what is needed) to Chavez, clamp down of their own opposition parties and media).
Bull, make the Ukraine and Georgia full NATO members now. Last I looked they were sovereign nations and don't need Russia's permission. Do you really believe Russia will "be nicer" to these countries if we let them dangle in the wind? Idiotic. Russia's "benevolence" is still fresh in the many Eastern Europeans, a fact overlooked by western sympathizers.
I am putting those two quote to underline the hypocrisy of both your statements. You say (ironically) that we should not "offend the Russians", blablabla.. that Obama is actually bowing down to them. You even criticizing Bush for his (weakling) attitude toward Russia. In short, you think we are giving Russia more than a little breath room.
But at the same time, you are saying that she should not care about Russia's feeling about Ukraine and Georgia.
Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Baltic States (and to a lesser extend, the central-asian republics north of Afghanistan) are all countries where the U.S. have made inroads in the past 20 years, economically, ideologically and military. Under Clinton, Bush and now Obama the U.S. of A. have been systematically aggressing the Russians by getting influence in those regions.
Russia is unique in it's geography: they don't have any real natural borders. In order to properly defend their territory, they need buffer zone to slow down and slowly crippling an invading army (that's how they have beaten both Napoleon and Hitley). They don't see it as having dominance over a lesser people: they see it as establishing a security perimeter. Maybe the nations under Russia's heel aren't happy about the whole thing, but Russia needs those nations.
And U.S.'s building up in influence in those regions isn't going to end. It's U.S.'s natural tendency to act like that. U.S. are on the extreme opposite of "calming down the Russian". You gave a concession on 1 issue. It's 1 out of 4000 that the Russians are genuinely worried about regarding their security.
Yeah, I'm sure they'll put an ad in the New York Times when the get one. You don't wait until wait until you're in a car wreck to buy car insurance (unless you're liberal minded and think it's your right).
(you were commenting about Iran's current lack of nuclear nuking capacity). You are comparing nuke-building (and not just the nuclear device; we are talking about the whole delivery system too), which is a huge economical commitment from any nation, to a CAR CRASH?
How stupid are you?
I don't see a Nuke-building as a "random event" mate.
Russia has no desire to end the tensions it has helped create. What makes you think they have any incentive to stop? They are making a small fortune selling nuclear technology and weapon (S-300 surface to air missiles comes to mind) to Iran. Obama is the only one that thinks crippling business is a good thing. Russia just learned that they have to do nothing, yet the US will bend to their will. While Obama's naivety might have been "charming" during the campaign, it will not work now.
Russia has no desire to let down its guard against the tension the U.S. created in Ukraine, Georgia, Kosovo and Poland either. Most of their actions around the world is aimed at distracting you and make you spend lots of ressources.
But U.S.'s economy is far from being crippled. You have so much potential, and your current economical strenght is only beginning to be properly tapped. You can afford to spend 10 times more money on strategic positionning around the world (which you historically have done), and still beat the Russians in a long-run race.
Russians are building up again against the U.S., and there is nothing we can do about it directly. The U.S. will simply use a winning strategy again, with different realities and different tactics.