Putin Versus Obama is No Contest

There’s an old adage that the Russians play chess, their national sport, while Americans play checkers. As Vladimir Putin meets with Barack Obama today, though, it looks more like our country under its incumbent president isn’t even playing checkers; it’s playing tidily-winks.

Putin has utterly whupped Team Obama by seizing and effectively annexing Crimea and parts of Eastern Ukraine. He is threatening with impunity the Baltic nations and others if they don’t bend to his will. And now he’s massing forces, engaging in combat operations and developing intelligence and other partnerships with Shiite jihadists led by Iran and with Bashir Assad, their common ally in Syria.

Team Obama claims Putin was desperate for today’s meeting. His country is hurting economically, but strategically it is checkmating America across the board. Unfortunately, this is no game – and certainly not tidily-winks.