OPINION

Palin Resurrects ‘WTF’ Phrase to Blast Obama on Giving Missile Defense Secrets to Russia

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Not to say that she is for sure running for president, but Sarah Palin just released a Facebook note that resembles the framework of a foreign policy speech on the campaign trail.

In it, she blasts President Obama for wanting “to give Russia our missile defense secrets because he believes that we can buy their friendship and cooperation with this taxpayer-funded gift.”

Palin’s note is based on an article on the site Foreign Policy, which reveals that the administration recently threatened to veto the defense budget if the House included a provision that would limit what the U.S. could share with Russia about our missile defense system. The House passed the provision anyway.

“Through its single-minded pursuit of ‘resetting’ relations with Russia, the Obama administration may simply be willing to hand over this information and, in doing so, weaken U.S. national security,” the Foreign Policy authors write.

Based on that, Palin resurrects her “WTF” pun, which simultaneously represents the phrase “what the fu**” and Obama’s mantra of “winning the future.”

“Does this make sense to you?” she asks. “Me neither. File this under ‘WTF.’”

You can read the whole note below:

As Governor I fought the Obama Administration’s plans to cut funds for missile defense in Alaska. So imagine how appalled and surprised I was to read this article by former Clinton CIA Director James Woolsey, appropriately titled “Giving Away the Farm,” concerning President Obama’s latest bizarre actions relating to missile defense.

President Obama wants to give Russia our missile defense secrets because he believes that we can buy their friendship and cooperation with this taxpayer-funded gift. But giving military secrets and technologies to a rival or competitor like Russia is just plain dumb. You can’t buy off Russia. And giving them advanced military technology will not create stability. What happens if Russia gives this technology (or sells it!) to other countries like Iran or China? After all, as Woolsey points out, Russia helped Iran with its missile and nuclear programs. Or what happens if an even more hardline leader comes to power in the Kremlin?

We tried buying off the Kremlin with technologies in the 1970s. That policy was a component of “detente,” and the hope was that if we would share our technologies with them, they would become more peaceful. Things, of course, didn’t work out that way. The Kremlin took western technologies and embarked on a massive military building program. History teaches that peace comes from American military strength. And a central component of that has always been technological superiority. Why would President Obama even dream of giving this away?

Members of Congress saw how foolish President Obama’s gambit was, so they put a section in the defense appropriation bill that specifically forbids the federal government from spending money to share these technologies with the Kremlin. President Obama actually threatened to veto the defense appropriation bill over this section of the law! Fortunately, the House passed the bill with a veto-proof majority, a whopping 322 to 96. Attention now turns to the Senate.

Why is it that President Obama seems to work so hard to give things to our enemies, while at the same time asking friends and allies like Israel to make sacrifices?

During these tough economic times when we are facing massive deficits and a competitive global economy, does President Obama really want to give away technologies that the American taxpayer paid lots of money to develop? Giving away our missile defense secrets won’t make us safer. What it will do is create a situation where we are facing an arms race with ourselves. Russia gets access to our technologies, and we are forced to spend even more money because of the need to stay ahead. Does this make sense to you? Me neither. File this under “WTF.”

- Sarah Palin

Any 2012 candidate will have to prove that they either have foreign policy experience or at least understand the foreign-policy challenges facing the nation. This sure looks like an attempt by Palin to do just that.