September 12, 2012 05:53 PM UTC

Mitt Romney - A Foreign Relations Loose Cannon

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• by: Aristotle

(Admit it, you missed the Cold War! – promoted by Colorado Pols)

UPDATE 10:09am – Added paragraph (the second to last) about his Egypt blunder.

Back in March, Mitt Romney called Russia “America’s number one geopolitical foe.” It was quickly forgotten in America, but Russian president Vladimir Putin has a longer memory.

Putin Thanks Romney for Calling Russia No. 1 Foe

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Mitt Romney’s characterization of Moscow as the United States’ “number one geopolitical foe” has actually helped Russia.

The Russian leader said Romney’s comments strengthened his resolve to oppose NATO’s plan for a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, a system Russia believes will degrade its nuclear deterrent. The U.S. insists the system is aimed at Iran, not Russia.

“I’m grateful to him (Romney) for formulating his stance so clearly because he has once again proven the correctness of our approach to missile defense problems,” Putin told reporters, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

“The most important thing for us is that even if he doesn’t win now, he or a person with similar views may come to power in four years. We must take that into consideration while dealing with security issues for a long perspective,” he said… [Ari’s emphasis, except for headline.]

Between this and his London Olympics gaffe, Romney is amply demonstrating that he has zero understanding of the delicate nature of foreign relations. He is causing setbacks on multiple diplomatic fronts and he isn’t even president.

Add to this Romney’s widely reported condemnation of the statement issued by our embassy in Egypt, even though they occurred prior to the deadly attacks upon it and our embassy in Libya. Besides drawing widespread criticism from all over the media and blogosphere, one has to wonder what message this sends to our diplomatic corps. I personally doubt it’s one they would find encouraging.

America can’t afford to elect this man. What costly wars and showdowns will he get us into?