Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol on Sunday took issue with President Obama’s approach to the conflict in Ukraine and relations with Russia.
“So, look; it’s nice for President Obama to say it’s not a Cold War chessboard. I don’t know why he says that with some disdain,” Kristol said on ABC’s “This Week.” “That was not an ignoble thing for us to play on that chessboard for 45 years. We ended up winning that Cold War.”
President Obama on Wednesday said that disagreement between the U.S. and Russia on policy approaches to Syria and Ukraine does not amount to “some Cold War chessboard.”
Kristol, however, thinks that the U.S. will need to match Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression
“And I do think Putin thinks he’s playing chess. He thinks he’s playing even a rougher game than chess and we have to be able to match it,” he said. “We could say we’re all honored at the people of Ukraine for beginning this process but that we are not as — we and the Europeans cannot make ourselves as strong a force for democracy and rule of law in Ukraine as Putin is for the opposite. Then things may not go well.”
