Obama’s Legacy Leaves Putin as the Man to See in the Middle East

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during a joint news conference following their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 28, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

As Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the leaders of Iran and Turkey in Sochi this week in an attempt to forge an end to the bloody Syrian civil war, the consequences of the conflict are becoming all too evident as the smoke starts to clear.

The Arab Spring cultivated and nurtured by the Obama Administration will have long-term effects for our allies in the region and for America’s national security — most of them harmful.

The obvious result of the Kremlin’s intervention on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad is that Mr. Putin is now the man to see in the Middle East, a result achieved with far less blood and treasure than was spent by the U.S. in its military adventures Iraq and Syria.

Yes, the war is costing Russia money it doesn’t have, as social services continue to be cut. And yes, green sprouts of social unrest continue to pop up, complicating Mr. Putin’s re-election hopes next year. But there is no denying the facts on the ground: If any Middle Eastern country wants to protect its interests as the fighting winds down, you fly to Moscow, not Washington, and kiss Mr. Putin’s ring.

Israel figured this out a long time ago, which is why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been traveling to Moscow multiple times over the last few years. No longer is Jerusalem entirely dependent on the United States for its future and its security.

Mr. Netanyahu is loath to find himself again dealing with an American president who is overtly anti-Israel and who is willing to betray American national security, and hence that of the Jewish state, by allowing Israel’s No. 1 enemy to acquire nuclear weapons and massive amounts of military hardware that can threaten Tel Aviv.

Russia state media announced recently that Israel has made it very clear to Moscow that it will not allow Iran to gain a foothold in Syria after the war. This tells me that Mr. Netanyahu is paying tribute at Mr. Putin’s court to achieve the result he desires, not bothering to make a separate stop at the White House.

Saudi Arabia and our Gulf allies, after being also betrayed by President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and crew, have moved away from Washington as well, hedging their bets with Beijing and Moscow.

Of course, all this leaves Iran happier than a pig in you-know-what.

The mullahs in Tehran have the money to buy lots of sophisticated weapons from Russia. They have money to fund whatever diabolical schemes they can cook up to fund terror while ensconced in their hardened nuclear bunkers. Heck, the real Islamic state — the Islamic Republic of Iran — will have nuclear weapons in few short years and the missiles to deliver them, a gift from Valerie Jarrett and the Obama gang, now all living together in Mr. Obama’s mansion in Washington.

And now let’s discuss Mr. Obama’s coup de grace — the Islamic invasion of Europe, funded, aided and abetted by Mr. Obama’s State Department and George Soros’ network of NGOs. The Arab Spring really served as a launch pad for the migration of millions of economic refugees into the heart of Europe, irreversibly changing it, altering its culture and security forever. The only European cultures that seem to have the will to survive are in the east, where countries like Hungary and Poland continue to defy Brussels and its suicidal globalist dictates.

So the bottom line is that after the leadership of Mr. Obama, aided by Hillary Clinton’s magic touch, American power is weakened, our allies are betrayed, Russia and Iran are ascendant, and Western Europe is in crisis.

A pretty impressive demolition for a president who famously said, “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”

This article first appeared on The Washington Times via “Threat Assessment” by L. Todd Wood.