#Unseriousness: While Putin Plans for a Real War in Ukraine, Obama's People Are Focused Like Lasers on Winning the Only War That Matters, the Facebook/Twitter War

Before getting to the "Promise of Hashtag," let's be clear about the seriousness of this moment:

Ukraine's deputy foreign minister said Friday he fears an imminent Russian invasion.

"We have the information we are in danger," Danylo Lubkivsky told reporters at the United Nations.

He spoke as an official in Ukraine confirmed that pro-Russian forces had detained a team of military observers with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The official said the team would be released after further investigation.

The stakes are high.

How does Obama's Smart Power team meet this moment, as Russia threatens a military campaign to crush the Ukraine?

By waging a Social Media Campaign.

Let us posit that if Putin wishes a military campaign against Ukraine, and Obama plans in response a Twitter campaign, Putin will gladly let Obama have his Fake Social Media "Victory" in exchange for a real world victory.

What signals does such a message send?

First, that Obama is not actually concerned with deterring Russia from invading Ukraine, but rather that he is only interested in being seen as being concerned about it.

If Putin didn't already know before (and frankly I doubt he didn't), this "response" by the U.S. State Department tells him that Obama has no permanent alliances, only permanent interests, and that permanent interest is pretending at strength for domestic political purposes.

He doesn't care what it means for the future or the world if Russia takes Ukraine. He only cares about what it might mean for the morale of his disciples and the November elections.

Obama is practically begging Putin to give him some sort of face-saving political cover to benefit Obama and Obama alone -- in exchange for which he'll let Putin have the Ukraine.

Actually, he'll let Putin have the Ukraine even if Putin doesn't offer him that. That's the "begging" part of it.

Second, it tells Putin that this Progressive Spirit Squad has only one skill, and that skill is "winning" on FaceBook one Like at a time.

When all you have is the hammer of retweets, all the world's troubles look like a hashtag nail.

Putin thus looks at the Obama Administration and sees it for what it is -- juvenile (if not puerile), only concerned about the next poll and the next #HashtagEvent.

Weak. Decadent. Insipid. Small.

Can you imagine what a hard-headed, black-hearted old KGB spy thinks when he looks out at America and sees it conducting foreign policy via a time-wasting medium primarily popular with 12 year old schoolgirls?

This is exactly the sort of feeble (and feeble-minded) response that Reagan termed "provocative weakness."

It is better to be a weakling and say nothing at all than to open one's Twitter account and remove all doubt.

Update (AP): Actual quote from the State Department’s actual spokesman: “They have not been following their hashtag with actions.”

Oh.

My.

God.

posted by Ace at 06:30 PM

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