Not everyone leads from behind.
While the Leader of the Free World — President Obama — heads off for another round of fund-raisers, two of America’s closest allies are showing how to confront a belligerent Vladimir Putin over the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.
Start with Australia’s prime minister, Tony Abbott. The shoot-down is no accident, he says, it’s “an unspeakable crime.”
He went on to add that “criminals should not be allowed to get away with what they’ve done.” More than two dozen Australians were on that flight.
Abbott pointed a finger at Russia for stirring trouble in Ukraine and dismissed Putin’s phony denials. We know Moscow got the message, because it responded by calling Abbott’s remarks “unacceptable.”
Undeterred, this week Australia pushed through UN Security Council Resolution 2166, condemning the downing of the flight and demanding a “full, thorough and independent investigation.”
Meanwhile, Britain’s David Cameron says Europe must “fundamentally change its approach” to Russia if Putin doesn’t end his war in Ukraine. Specifically, he says France’s plan to sell Moscow naval ships has now become “unthinkable.” It’s time, he says, for Europe “to make our power, influence and resources felt.”
That’s a tall order, given how much Europe is entwined with Putin’s Russia. In addition to lucrative arms sales, Europe depends on Russia for much of its natural gas. And Russian oligarchs pour billions of their ill-gotten gains into financial and property markets from London to Limassol.
But Cameron and Abbott are pushing in the right direction, calling Putin out for a crime that would never have occurred but for his aggression toward his neighbors, and demanding real consequences for it.
In a better world, these two prime ministers could count on the full backing of the Obama administration.
But they know they cannot. Which only makes us more grateful for their willingness to step up and fill the leadership void left by Uncle Sam.