Obama's training as a community organizer/shit disturber may help America's foreign policy. Twenty more big shots in Russia and the Ukraine have been added to the first eleven. They can't travel to the US and funds lodged in American institutions will be frozen. For now, several of the biggest names including Putin himself have been left off the list. This escalation is getting interesting and I approve of it. This, however, is not the rule of law. It's realpolitik, amorally doing whatever gains the most and loses the least. I'd rather see a small number of Russian stakeholders mistreated than see thousands bloodied and maimed in a war they never asked for. The same principle is applied in Congress where small personal favours sway the vote for costly public bills. Congress illustrates the carrot approach, personal sanctions on Russian potentates illustrates the stick approach. While Obama may really have little grasp of world forces, I commend him for applying the nasty side of American politics to international bargaining. As a side benefit, the Russian people who are pretty excited about getting a bit of Mother Russia back, will also be wondering if their country was robbed of the money that made the targeted guys so rich.
Alinksy's rules for radicals directed at community organizers:
Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
Picking is the public naming of big shot Russian players.
Freezing includes freezing their US wealth.
Polarizing creates distance between them and the Russian people who have less.
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If you hadn't read this before, Obama is regularly linked to community organizer, Saul Alinksy, by critics on the right.
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