As Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin
prepared to meet on Monday for the first time in nearly a year, the
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said the US president had
“strengthened Russia’s hand” by failing to have a clear strategy in the
conflict-ridden Middle East.
In an interview with NPR, Rubio, the Florida senator who has made foreign policy a cornerstone of his campaign, said Russia had gained leverage by making a case that the US was to blame for invading Iraq, withdrawing too early and leaving behind “chaos”.
Putin, he added, had already begun positioning Russia as a “much more reliable ally” with the capacity to fill the leadership vacuum left behind.
“This president [Obama] has fallen into that. He’s, in fact, strengthened Putin’s hands,” Rubio said. “If I were president, the argument would be the reverse. We would provide a clear strategy to deal with Isis – we would have done so already – and those nations would prefer to work with us.
“But, if left with a choice between Russia and nothing, they’re going to choose Russia.”
Rubio has drawn a tough line against Putin, often referring to him on the campaign trail as a “gangster” who controls government much like an “organized crime figure”.
Putin responded to the “gangster” charge on Sunday during an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, stating: “How can I be a gangster if I worked for the KGB? Come on, that does not correspond to reality.”
Rubio’s NPR interview aired in advance of a meeting between Obama and Putin at the United Nations general assembly in New York, where the two leaders will discuss conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, and the Islamic State. Obama and Putin’s notoriously frosty relationship was on full display hours before the meeting, as both leaders sharply criticized each other in remarks before the UN.
Obama is expected to raise directly with Putin the issue of Russian military forces in Syria, after using his speech at the UN on Monday to chastise “the support of tyrants like Bashar al-Assad who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent civilians”.
In a clear rebuttal, Putin said it would be an “an enormous mistake” to not cooperate with the Syrian government.
Asked by NPR if Assad should remain in power, Rubio said it was important not to lose sight of how the Syrian war began – as an uprising against the Syrian president, that was later seized upon by Isis and other terrorist groups.
“Obviously, the Russians and the Iranians view Assad as a client state, and they want either him to remain in power or someone like him,” Rubio said.
“That’s quite different from our view because, as long as Assad is in power, you will have an Isis, or an Isis-like movement, and that vacuum will continued to be filled by the next jihadist group in line.”
On the domestic front, Rubio dismissed an arguably less threatening foe: Donald Trump.
The senator and the real-estate mogul engaged in a war of words last week, after Rubio characterized the Republican frontrunner as “thin-skinned” and “sensitive” and said he had shown no ability to speak on policy or national security.
Trump responded, going after Rubio at a conservative gathering on Friday – only to be booed by the crowd, who had warmly received the senator earlier in the day.
“I’m not interested in the back and forth to be a member or part of his freak show,” Rubio told NPR, while reiterating that Trump was “sensitive” and responded poorly to criticism.
“His poll numbers have taken a beating, and he was embarrassed on national television at the debate by Carly Fiorina and others,” Rubio said. “But this election is not going to be about Donald Trump. He thinks it is, but it’s not about him.
“It has to be about the issues confronting our country. And my sense of it is that every time issues become prominent, he will say something outrageous or do something outrageous so that he doesn’t have to talk about the issues.”
In an interview with NPR, Rubio, the Florida senator who has made foreign policy a cornerstone of his campaign, said Russia had gained leverage by making a case that the US was to blame for invading Iraq, withdrawing too early and leaving behind “chaos”.
Putin, he added, had already begun positioning Russia as a “much more reliable ally” with the capacity to fill the leadership vacuum left behind.
“This president [Obama] has fallen into that. He’s, in fact, strengthened Putin’s hands,” Rubio said. “If I were president, the argument would be the reverse. We would provide a clear strategy to deal with Isis – we would have done so already – and those nations would prefer to work with us.
“But, if left with a choice between Russia and nothing, they’re going to choose Russia.”
Rubio has drawn a tough line against Putin, often referring to him on the campaign trail as a “gangster” who controls government much like an “organized crime figure”.
Putin responded to the “gangster” charge on Sunday during an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, stating: “How can I be a gangster if I worked for the KGB? Come on, that does not correspond to reality.”
Rubio’s NPR interview aired in advance of a meeting between Obama and Putin at the United Nations general assembly in New York, where the two leaders will discuss conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, and the Islamic State. Obama and Putin’s notoriously frosty relationship was on full display hours before the meeting, as both leaders sharply criticized each other in remarks before the UN.
Obama is expected to raise directly with Putin the issue of Russian military forces in Syria, after using his speech at the UN on Monday to chastise “the support of tyrants like Bashar al-Assad who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent civilians”.
In a clear rebuttal, Putin said it would be an “an enormous mistake” to not cooperate with the Syrian government.
Asked by NPR if Assad should remain in power, Rubio said it was important not to lose sight of how the Syrian war began – as an uprising against the Syrian president, that was later seized upon by Isis and other terrorist groups.
“Obviously, the Russians and the Iranians view Assad as a client state, and they want either him to remain in power or someone like him,” Rubio said.
“That’s quite different from our view because, as long as Assad is in power, you will have an Isis, or an Isis-like movement, and that vacuum will continued to be filled by the next jihadist group in line.”
On the domestic front, Rubio dismissed an arguably less threatening foe: Donald Trump.
The senator and the real-estate mogul engaged in a war of words last week, after Rubio characterized the Republican frontrunner as “thin-skinned” and “sensitive” and said he had shown no ability to speak on policy or national security.
Trump responded, going after Rubio at a conservative gathering on Friday – only to be booed by the crowd, who had warmly received the senator earlier in the day.
“I’m not interested in the back and forth to be a member or part of his freak show,” Rubio told NPR, while reiterating that Trump was “sensitive” and responded poorly to criticism.
“His poll numbers have taken a beating, and he was embarrassed on national television at the debate by Carly Fiorina and others,” Rubio said. “But this election is not going to be about Donald Trump. He thinks it is, but it’s not about him.
“It has to be about the issues confronting our country. And my sense of it is that every time issues become prominent, he will say something outrageous or do something outrageous so that he doesn’t have to talk about the issues.”
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