Framing the Dialogue

I never have had the opportunity to update a Framing the Dictionary post and in this case I did so innocently.  I decided to “frame” the word misguided and as I checked on my formatting for this category I discovered that I had already featured this word.  So here is an update.

I am disturbed, as all Americans should be, with the events happening around the globe especially with our allies in the Ukraine and the naked aggression of the Russians.  For those of us who grew up in the cold war era and experienced not just fire drills, but also drills where we hid under our desks in preparation for the big one (i.e. nuclear bomb).  MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) was the safety valve that made some folks feel safe and then Ronald Reagan came along and set policy that forced the end of the USSR and subsequently the Cold War.

A few years ago the Russians started to reunite the Soviet Union with some aggressive invasion of Georgia claiming that they went in with troops to protect ethnic Russians.  Does this sound anything like what is going on in Crimea? Here’s a little primer on Crimea;

• Crimea is part of Ukraine
• Ukraine was part of the former Soviet Union
• Ukraine, after the split of the USSR, was cajoled into giving up the Soviet nukes and much of their defensive and offensive capabilities with assurance from the United States, Russia, and France that they would protect them.
• France is France so they seem more interested in Russia as a customer and fail to see the bear at their door.  Any chance that we’ll have to save them yet again?
• The United States under Obama seems to have the thoughts that since Crimea is not strategic (to us) then who cares.  Obama threatens that “there will be costs,” but Putin is unafraid.  In this administration our WORD means nothing.  The world and especially our allies are watching.
• The Crimeans were given two choices; sever ties with Ukraine and join Russia or sever ties with Ukraine and make it on your own.  By the way Crimeans pay no attention to the thousands of Russian troops who invaded your land and ignore the myriad of Russian Navy ships in your ports.  Vote freely!
• Not so surprisingly the Crimean people voted to sever from Ukraine and join Russia.  Ukraine, bowing to the obvious threat of Mother Russia, removed their troops from Crimea in advance of the further invasion of their country.
• The Ukrainians were fools to believe that the Russians would behave any differently than they had over the past few centuries.  My Grandfather emigrated from Eastern Europe.  While he was not from the Ukraine (his country no longer exists) he had a visceral hate of the Russians.  I guess people get angry when you invade them over and over again.
• France is France and will always be France.  Something happened to France after WW1.
• The United States’ word is only as good as the person who occupies the oval office.  Our WORD now has an expiration date.
• Ukrainians who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

If you are agnostic about the Crimea situation consider this scenario.  The Mexican government sends troops into Texas to protect the millions of Mexican citizens who are being mistreated by the United States.  The Mexican government allows the people to decide whether this territory will either become a separate country or be annexed by Mexico.  Would America stand for this?

So while “Rome burns” our emperor has his hands full with his misguided agenda.  For your reference here is the definition again.

The dictionary defines misguided as:

1. led or prompted by wrong or inappropriate motives or ideals, well-meaning but misguided do-gooders

2. poorly conceived or thought out.

Synonyms: unwise, mistaken, foolish, misled, misplaced, deluded, ill-advised, imprudent, injudicious

Example 1:  If you are alive the cable networks, networks, newspapers, radio are all a buzz over the fate of Flight 370.  I happened to be in a hospital waiting room for hours on Wednesday night and was surprised to see on the CNN scroll (I would have changed the channel except that I was not the only one present) that Obama stated that the investigation into the jet’s fate was “a top priority.”  We all care about the fate, but “a top priority?”  That’s misguided.  Maybe it’s a top priority because it takes the gaze off of his inept foreign policy.

Example 2:  The Campaigner-In-Chief is still on the road schlepping his Obamacare Obamination.  He appeared on Ellen show to much fawning.  I’m not sure how I feel about this as I think a president should be in the office dealing with things like unemployment, over spending in government, Iran nuclear program, China cyber attacks, Russian aggression, the Keystone Pipeline…you know stuff like that.  However, the realist in me sees that the less he is in Washington the less harm he does to our country.  It seems like you have to choose whether he is inept or sinister.

Example 3:  You are kidding right?  Do I really need a third example.  Okay how about his annual March Madness picks on ESPN.  Perhaps 2014 would be a good time to skip this and look presidential for a change.

As a note to the news outlets I am TIRED of hearing how “war weary” we United States citizens are.  My weariness comes from the fact that we continue to waste our soldiers with wars that have no focus and very little chance of success.  We now “war” not to win, but bring peace and allowing the enemy to rebound and gather strength.  Our weariness is derived from the waste of the lives of our soldiers for unappreciative foreign leaders.  I cannot totally blame those leaders as they have learned from our foreign policy under Obama that our promises expire.  They know that at some point they’ll be left out to hand dry. And in many of those countries “hanging” might be a better end than they can expect in reality.