Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has urged the Obama administration to be the “outspoken voice for freedom” and use the power of the United States to take a leadership role in foreign affairs.
During a conference to launch the
Wall Street Journal’s Capital Journal Daybreak newsletter, the GOP senator said the U.S. should have been more forceful in voicing its support of Ukraine against Russian aggression before President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Crimea.
He said, “I think there is a big difference between not wanting us to play role of the world’s policeman and not wanting to send in military to try to produce democratic utopians in distant lands, neither of which are tasks for which the military is particularly well suited for nor is it I think their job.”
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He continued, “I think it is a mistake to confuse war weariness with an unwillingness of the American people to defend our national security. There’s a big difference between that and believing that America should not be an outspoken voice for freedom.
“For example I think we should be far more outspoken supporting what is going on in Venezuela. I think that the American people understand and respect the power of the United States’ leadership in the world.”
Stating that “no reasonable person wants to see direct military conflict with Russia,” Cruz also said that the U.S. must help to defend other countries in Eastern Europe against Russian aggression.
“We have to reassure our allies,” he said. “I think we should go forward with installing the anti-ballistic missile batteries in eastern Europe, the Czech Republic and Poland that administration canceled in what they believed was an effort to appease Russia. I think that appeasement has not worked.”
Cruz also urged the White House to approve applications from U.S. companies to export liquid natural gas to Ukraine.
“It would start to free Ukraine from dependence on Russia energy and Russian natural gas, which Russia uses as economic blackmail. It would also generate jobs and economic growth here at home.”
The Capital Journal Daybreak newsletter is emailed to readers every morning at 7.30 a.m. E.T.
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