{"id":61822,"date":"2016-12-31T10:39:55","date_gmt":"2016-12-31T14:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=61822"},"modified":"2016-12-31T10:41:38","modified_gmt":"2016-12-31T14:41:38","slug":"stephen-lendman-reports-president-putins-response-to-obamas-new-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=61822","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Lendman Reports President Putin\u2019s Response To Obama\u2019s New Sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

“It is clear enough who is the real leader of the world. That person is not in the White House.”
\n<\/span><\/strong>— Paul Craig Roberts<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Putin\u2019s Response to Obama\u2019s New Sanctions<\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

by Stephen Lendman<\/span><\/p>\n

Both leaders are polar opposites \u2013 a mensch in Moscow on the right side of history compared to a US menace in Washington waging war on humanity. [Mensch means a person of dignity and honor. See: http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mensch <\/span><\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to Obama\u2019s new sanctions, a same day article quoted Sergey Lavrov, saying Russia \u201ccannot leave unanswered insults of the kind, reciprocity is the law of diplomacy and foreign relations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He recommended Putin respond tit for tat while blasting Obama\u2019s deplorable action. It seemed certain, but didn\u2019t happen. Putin took the high ground, in stark contrast to his disgraceful US counterpart, issuing a statement, saying:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe regard the\u00a0recent unfriendly steps taken by\u00a0the\u00a0outgoing US administration as\u00a0provocative and\u00a0aimed at\u00a0further weakening the\u00a0Russia-US relationship.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis runs contrary to the fundamental interests of\u00a0both the\u00a0Russian and\u00a0American people. Considering the\u00a0global security responsibilities of\u00a0Russia and\u00a0the\u00a0United States, this is also damaging to\u00a0international relations as\u00a0a\u00a0whole.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs\u00a0it proceeds from international practice, Russia has reasons to\u00a0respond in\u00a0kind. Although we have the\u00a0right to\u00a0retaliate, we will not resort to\u00a0irresponsible \u2018kitchen\u2019 diplomacy but will plan our further steps to\u00a0restore Russian-US relations based on\u00a0the\u00a0policies of\u00a0the\u00a0Trump Administration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0diplomats who are returning to\u00a0Russia will spend the\u00a0New Year\u2019s holidays with their families and\u00a0friends. We will not create any problems for\u00a0US diplomats.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not expel anyone. We will not prevent their families and\u00a0children from using their traditional leisure sites during the\u00a0New Year\u2019s holidays.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, I\u00a0invite all children of\u00a0US diplomats accredited in\u00a0Russia to\u00a0the\u00a0New Year and\u00a0Christmas children\u2019s parties in\u00a0the\u00a0Kremlin.\u201d [ The Russian Orthodox Church uses the old Julian calendar for religious holidays, which puts Christmas on January 7.]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is regrettable that the\u00a0Obama Administration is ending its term in\u00a0this manner. Nevertheless, I\u00a0offer my\u00a0New Year greetings to\u00a0President Obama and\u00a0his family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy\u00a0season\u2019s greetings also to\u00a0President-elect Donald Trump and\u00a0the\u00a0American people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0wish all of\u00a0you happiness and\u00a0prosperity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Judge for yourself. Who\u2019s the mensch and who\u2019s the menace? Which way will Trump go?<\/span><\/p>\n

My personal yearend greetings and thanks to President Putin for for doing the right thing consistently on major geopolitical issues. I proudly support his preeminent world leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Final Comment<\/span><\/p>\n

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained that Obama\u2019s expulsion order disrupts the lives of 96 Russian nationals \u2013 35 diplomats and family members.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some targeted diplomats only arrived in America two months ago. \u201cIt is not clear how they could have participated in (alleged) activities that, according to the secret services, took place in the spring of 2016,\u201d Zakharova explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

The have until January 1 to leave \u2013 Obama\u2019s happy new year greeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

There might be more to Obama\u2019s provocation than meets the eye. See my column: http:\/\/www.paulcraigroberts.org\/2016\/12\/30\/what-is-the-obama-regime-up-to-paul-craig-roberts\/<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

___
\nhttp:\/\/www.paulcraigroberts.org\/2016\/12\/30\/stephen-lendman-reports-president-putins-response-to-obamas-new-sanctions\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“It is clear enough who is the real leader of the world. That person is not in the White House.” — Paul Craig Roberts Putin\u2019s Response to Obama\u2019s New Sanctions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}