Lt. Col. Ralph Peters is not impressed with the sanctions imposed on 11 Russians by President Barack Obama on Monday.
Russian President "Vladimir Putin is playing 'Game of Thrones,' and we're playing 'Downton Abbey,'" Peters, a former Army intelligence officer and Fox News analyst, said Monday on Fox News Channel's
"The O'Reilly Factor."
"Telling a couple of dozen Russians and rogue Ukrainians that they can't vacation in Vegas this year is not going to get Putin out of Crimea," Peters said. He told O'Reilly that the "tepid" measures imposed by Obama are "so timid that they only encourage Vladimir Putin."
Russia also
seemed unimpressed with the sanctions, aimed at punishing those involved in the invasion of Crimea. A referendum on Sunday produced a 97 percent vote from residents who said they want to break away from Ukraine, but few believe the vote was legitimate. The West has refused to recognize it, but Russia declared Crimea is a free and sovereign state.
Russian troops have been patrolling the streets in Crimea since late February.
Peters said Obama should not wait for Europe to join him in further action against Russia.
"Sometimes you have to lead, and this is one of those times," he said.
Peters suggested Obama should stop pretending negotiations will solve all the world's problems, renounce and abrogate the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and impose "broad, deep sanctions that really bite."
Putin's long-term Achilles' heel is that he does not understand economics, Peters said.
"It's not that Putin is going to move into … eastern parts of Ukraine if we do X,Y or Z. He's is going to go for eastern Ukraine and southeastern Ukraine anyway," he said. "The question is, how?"
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