The new round of sanctions the United States placed against Russia on Wednesday is "too little, too late" and represents "nothing meaningful" in halting the aggression of Russian President Vladimir Putin into Ukraine, said Lt. Col. Ralph Peters.
The West didn't care about Ukraine, Peters told "Fox & Friends," and suggested "bold action" by President Barack Obama is necessary to stand up to Putin.
"I'm glad he put more sanctions on Putin this week, but they're too little, too late," Peters, a retired Army Lt. Col., said Friday. "Our president didn't do anything. Nothing meaningful."
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The downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on Thursday over eastern Ukraine reignited the threat posed by Russia's aggression into Crimea and troop buildup in eastern Ukraine earlier this year. Pro-Russian separatists are suspected to have launched the missile attack on the jet that killed all 298 passengers from at least nine countries.
Obama's concern about the politics of confronting Putin and "how it'll affect his base" had driven U.S. "foreign policy utterly into the ground and under the ground," Peters said, adding that the president "gets no points with his base" by a strong response to Russia.
"It doesn't bring him an advantage. He's not worried about the United States. What's in it for him?" Peters said.
The reaction from the United States requires a specific response to Russia that includes "clear speech a la [former President] Ronald Reagan" with follow through, Peters said.
"A clear vision articulated. You need to act upon that vision. And you can't let up."
There is no question the missile that downed the Malaysian jet was "operated by Russian military-trained personnel," Peters said. Because of U.S. intelligence in the area, he said officials knew the details of the attack.
"We were tracking this. We know when the missile was fired, where it was fired from, who fired it, the call sign, the whole works," he said.
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