Aside from all the obsessive polling and GOP strategizing over a candidacy that remains undeclared, Hillary is making news rather than always having news made up about her. While day one of her latest swing through California yielded not even a single twitpic (that I could find), it has caused something of a stir.
As a former secretary of state, she is expected to comment on current events and foreign policy from time to time. When Secretary Kerry was forging his Iran deal, she remained silent while media folk clamored for a comment. She has proven far less reticent on the unfolding situation in Ukraine and specifically more recently in Crimea.
Last week, at a conference in Orlando, she responded to a question about Putin’s plans and actions in Ukraine. Apparently yesterday, at a Boys and Girls Club fundraiser in Long Beach, she elaborated a bit on Putin’s latest moves in Crimea causing the ripple effect we see in today’s headers.
In early June, 2012, referring to the “avalanche” of news leaks that may or may not have originated in the White House, Dianne Feinstein used the word “Anchluss.” Yesterday in California, Hillary did not use that word, but unmistakably was comparing Putin’s behavior toward Ukraine, specifically the autonomous republic of Crimea, and conceivably his plans for other former SSRs (keep an eye on Georgia and Moldova) to Hitler’s absorption of Austria (the Anschluss of 1938) and subsequent annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938.
Hillary did not compare Putin to Hitler. She compared his behavior to Hitler’s in 1938. It is an important distinction. She was comparing tactics and their bases not personalities.
Putin has justified the Russian incursion into the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea by saying that ethnic Russians there need to be protected from attacks.
SNIP
An attendee at the fundraiser, Harry Saltzgaver, a newspaper executive, told Buzzfeed that Clinton clarified that “while that makes people nervous, there is no indication that Putin is as irrational as the instigator of World War II.”
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Putin “believes his mission is to restore Russian greatness,” Clinton said, according to the report. “When he looks at Ukraine, he sees a place that he believes is by its very nature part of Mother Russia.”
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It is unremarkable that a retired secretary of state might comment on a situation in which she has insight and familiarity. That these remarks should have incited a flurry of mocking tweets is a concern since there is historical accuracy in what Hillary said, even if she used neither of the A-words. We all knew (or should have) what she was talking about, and she is right. It makes people nervous.
On a bright note, I thought I would share this little gem from HuffPo excerpted from Lisa Rogak’s “Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words.” It has wonderful quotes and is illustrated with some cute and amusing pics and gifs. Enjoy!
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DOUG COLLIER via Getty Images
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