By Tom Cohen
President Barack Obama wrapped up a European trip dominated by Russia’s annexation of Crimea by shifting the focus of the U.S. and allied response to helping Ukraine rather than confronting Moscow.
I’m sure that’s a comfort to most Ukrainians, who have tens of thousands of Russian troops inside their borders, and additional tens of thousands more massed just outside their borders. In this article I found the following quotes from our commander in chief:
“There are ways for us to hopefully influence Russian decision-making and one of the most important things we can do on that front is make sure that the Ukrainian government is stable, that its finances are stable, and their elections go forward as currently scheduled.”
“Hopefully we can design sanctions that minimize the impact on American companies or Italian companies and maximize the impact on Russian entities.”
“Hopefully we don’t have to use them.”
“We’re continually hopeful Russia walks through the door of diplomacy and works with all of us to try to resolve this issue in a peaceful way.”
I’m glad Mr. Obama is a man of hope, but hope is neither a policy nor a plan. Mr. Obama has hope. Mr. Putin has boots on the ground. I wonder which will be more effective? So far, the results have been pretty obvious.
About Stan Guthrie
Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers.
Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Tell Me More, WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio's New Day Florida. A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?
