John Kerry: Russia has until Monday to reverse course in Ukraine

[jeebus]

I don't know why but you can't just vote to leave your country. Otherwise we'd have lost Texas a long time ago.

Another fucking thing to blame Lincoln for!

 

[JBond]

I don't know why but you can't just vote to leave your country. Otherwise we'd have lost Texas a long time ago.

If that were true they should be part of Russia. Crimea was part of Russia until 1954 when they broke away. I had no idea where the hell Crimea was, so I looked it up.

I can see why the Russians want it.

 

[CobraKai]

It ain't 1954 anymore son.

 

[JBond]

It ain't 1954 anymore son.

Thanks Dad.

You had mentioned parts of countries leaving. I was just pointing out it happens over and over. Not arguing with you.....yet ; )

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

No offense, but posting all this and you didn't even know where Crimea was?

But of course they weren't going to give up their only warm water port and a naval base they've had for decades to a new regime that wasn't friendly to them. Frankly, if something like that happened to us, we'd do the same thing.

This *should* only be a big problem if Putin doesn't stop there and wants eastern Ukraine also. There isn't the motivation there like there is for Crimea, so hopefully this is the end of it.

 

[peplaw06]

America. Fuck. Yeah.

 

[JBond]

No offense, but posting all this and you didn't even know where Crimea was?

But of course they weren't going to give up their only warm water port and a naval base they've had for decades to a new regime that wasn't friendly to them. Frankly, if something like that happened to us, we'd do the same thing.

This *should* only be a big problem if Putin doesn't stop there and wants eastern Ukraine also. There isn't the motivation there like there is for Crimea, so hopefully this is the end of it.

TE, I am not sure any of us could have pinpointed on a map where exactly Crimea was before this started. I know I could not. You must have done well in geography in school.

I hope and pray that Putin stops with the annexing of Crimea, because I have little faith in the EU and even less faith in our Community Organizer and Chief to make the correct decisions.

 

[JBond]

RUSSIA LAUGHS AT OBAMA 'SANCTIONS'; CALLS HIM 'PRANKSTER'

MOSCOW – Russia’s deputy prime minister laughed off President Obama’s sanction against him today asking “Comrade @BarackObama” if “some prankster” came up with the list.

The Obama administration hit 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials with sanctions today as punishment for Russia’s support of Crimea’s referendum. Among them: aides to President Vladimir Putin, a top government official, senior lawmakers, Crimean officials, the ousted president of Ukraine, and a Ukrainian politician and businessman allegedly tied to violence against protesters in Kiev.

It remains to be seen whether the sanctions will dissuade Russia from annexing Crimea, but one an early clue that they will not be effective came just hours later when President Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea as an independent state, perhaps an early step towards annexation.

U.S. official have warned of additional sanctions for Russian action, hoping it will deter Russia from any further aggression towards Ukraine, but it didn’t appear to upset the often outspoke Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

Rogozin, a friend of actor Steven Seagal, took to Twitter to tweak Obama, tweeting he thinks “some prankster” came up with the sanctions list

In a later tweet addressed to “Comrade @BarackObama,” he asked, “what should do those who have neither accounts nor property abroad? Or U didn’t think about it?”

Another Russian on the sanctions list, Vladislav Surkov, also seemed unconcerned.

Surkov, a top Putin ideologue often called the Kremlin’s grey cardinal, reportedly told a Russian newspaper, “It’s a big honor for me. I don’t have accounts abroad. The only things that interest me in the U.S. are Tupac Shakur, Allen Ginsberg, and Jackson Pollock. I don’t need a visa to access their work. I lose nothing.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/03/russian-deputy-pm-laughs-at-obamas-sanctions/


Russia Will Sanction U.S. Senators

Putin is set to respond to Obama's sanctions of Russian officials with his own list. Several U.S. Senators and officials will be banned from visiting Russia, including Sen. Dick Durbin.

U.S. senators, congressmen and top Obama administration officials are sure to be on Vladimir Putin’s sanctions list; a response to the Obama Administration’s announcement on Monday that 7 Russian officials and 4 Ukrainian officials would be barred from holding assets or traveling to the United States.

Putin is expected to release his retaliation list as early as Tuesday and while the final list is still being crafted, it will include top Obama administration officials and high profile U.S. senators, in an effort to roughly mirror the U.S. sanctions against Russian officials and lawmakers, according to diplomatic sources. At the top of the list in Congress is Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who recently co-authored a resolution criticizing Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

Durbin’s inclusion on Putin’s list would mirror Obama’s naming of Valentina Matvienko, the head of the upper chamber of the Russian Duma. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are not expected to be on the Russian sanctions list.

UPDATE: Durbin told The Daily Beast in a statement Monday: "My Lithuanian-born mother would be proud her son made Vladimir Putin’s American enemies list."

Sen. John McCain, who traveled to Kiev last weekend to meet with Ukrainian leaders, told The Daily Beast that he expects to be on the list and is happy about it.

“You think I’m not going to be on it?” McCain said. “I would be honored to be on that list.”

McCain said he would not be impacted financially by being subject to a visa ban and asset freeze in the Russian Federation.

“I guess I’m going to have to try to withdraw my money from my secret account in St. Petersburg,” he joked.

Other names that could be on the Russian sanctions list, although not confirmed, include Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Bob Corker (R-TN), the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who are leading the sanctions drive in the Senate, and Victoria Nuland, the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, who has been heavily involved in working with the Ukrainian opposition that ousted the Yanokovich government.

One U.S. official who can rest easy is White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who will not be on Putin’s sanctions list. It's been an ongoing rumor in administration circles that Carney is quietly lobbying to replace former Ambassador Mike McFaul as the next U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, who will also not be on the list. (Today, Carney denied he is seeking the job)

The tit for tat sanctions are not likely to convince either side to back down from their position over the Russian invasion of Crimea, McCain said.“If we acquiesced to that, that would be a green light for him to go for Moldova, where there are also Russian troops,” said McCain. “That’s the problem with this appeasement policy.”

McCain is advocating for a series of more serious steps, which include the immediate arming of the Ukrainian military, which the administration has rejected for now, promising to help the Ukrainian military develop over the long term, rethinking U.S. approaches to Putin, and restarting U.S. missile defense projects in Eastern Europe.

There are signs that Putin is preparing a scenario ahead of a possible invasion of Eastern Ukraine, including sending Russian intelligence agents inside Ukraine to stir up unrest as a pretext for a possible expansion of the invasion.

“I’m not sure about Eastern Ukraine, but Putin has put everything in place for a de facto partition of Eastern Ukraine,” he said. “Will he do it? I don’t know. But I don’t think he can be discouraged from that by these limited actions by the United States… We must commit to the ultimate return of Crimea to Ukraine, just as we promised to the so-called captive nations that they would eventually be free of Soviet domination.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/17/russia-will-sanction-u-s-officials.html

 

[peplaw06]

This is the new cold war... waged on twitter.