The answer to the crisis in the Crimea may be right here in our own backyard in the Rocky Mountain West. Drill, baby, drill is the response from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Former Vice President Dick Cheney says there is no doubt that Russian President Putin thinks President Obama is weak. That, and a must-see speech on national security by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is below. (h/t Breitbart News)
Politico’s Morning Energy: RAND PAUL ON UKRAINE – DRILL, BABY, DRILL
Fresh off his straw poll win at CPAC this weekend, Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday backed greatly expanded drilling to help combat the Ukraine crisis. “I would begin drilling in every possible conceivable place within our territories in order to have production that we could supply Europe with if it’s interrupted from Ukraine,” Paul said on “Fox News Sunday.” Paul is far from the first person to take that position, and while critics have pointed out it would take many years to get major LNG exports operational and thus won’t help during the ongoing crisis, supporters of such a plan argue it’s a long-term solution to such unrest.
Yahoo.com- Cheney: ‘No question’ Putin thinks Obama is weak
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said there is “no question” that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes President Barack Obama is weak, and that the United States should not take military options off the table in its response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
“I worry when we begin to address the crisis, the first thing we do is take options off the table,” Cheney said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” Sunday. “There are military options that don’t involve putting groups on the ground in Crimea.”Cheney then criticized what he called President Barack Obama’s reflexive urge to say “no military,” and the administration’s “indecisiveness” in Syria — which has allowed Putin to run “roughshod” over the region.
Breitbart.com: Ted Cruz Stakes Out Bold Foreign Policy Vision to Rand Paul’s Right
After saying that “no rational person is interested in a shooting war between the United States and Russia,” Cruz offered a variety of solutions to the brewing overseas conflict, saying America should “immediately sign a free trade agreement with Ukraine” and export liquefied natural gas there, which would create jobs at home and lessen Russia’s ability to use its natural resources as “economic blackmail.”
He said Russia should have been expelled from the G8 for its actions in Crimea and Ukraine and the Magnitsky Act should be enforced. He also said that reinstalling the anti-missile defense in Eastern Europe that Obama canceled in order to appease Putin and Russia should be another priority.
Cruz said Americans do not want the military to “build Democratic utopias across the world” and the job of the military is to “hunt down and kill our enemies.”
Update- if you saw this post earlier, Breitbart.com has now posted Sen. Cruz’ must-see national security speech. Here it is:
*Note- The must-see speech by Sen. Cruz was actually the speech he delivered across the street from CPAC, as referenced in the above Breitbart.com article. I am still searching for that must-see video.
Here is a separate Ted Cruz Speech at CPAC, via C-Span: