Obama Skips National Security Team Meeting on Russia, Ukraine

[DaLincolnJones]

what a smarmy fuck..

 

[MarAzul]

what a smarmy fuck..

Some of these sheep would still vote for the phoney flake.
The jillpoke still seems enamored.

 

[jlprk]

Some of these sheep would still vote for the phoney flake.
The jillpoke still seems enamored.

Yes, we already know the biggest word in your proud vocabulary.

The Repubicans in this thread seem to think Democrats aren't in the majority. When you read only conservative sites, you believe your own press releases. Don't mess with Oregon.

 

[MarAzul]

Yes, we already know the biggest word in your proud vocabulary.

The Repubicans in this thread seem to think Democrats aren't in the majority. When you read only conservative sites, you believe your own press releases. Don't mess with Oregon.

Yes, I believe you do already know, as much as the container will hold.

The Democrats have dam near always be in the majority. Normally they just don't turn out to vote for the biggest flake in sight.

 

[PapaG]

So, we can't throw Russia out of the G8, so we're going to throw ourselves out of the G8? That'll teach 'em!

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/0...ional-overthrow-yanukovych-for-crimea-crisis/

US to boycott G8 Summit in Sochi unless Russia reverses course on Ukraine

The United States took another punitive measure against Russia Tuesday, announcing it would not participate in a G8 Summit scheduled for Sochi in June unless Moscow reversed course on Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The move followed an hour-long phone conversation between President Obama and West German Chancellor Angela Merkel that senior administration officials told Fox News focused on trying to construct a diplomatic off-ramp to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine.

The White House released a statement saying the two leaders “agreed on the importance of de-escalating the situation, including through the deployment international observers and human rights monitors, and of initiating direct talks between Russia and Ukraine.”

The U.S. will boycott the Sochi G8 summit unless Moscow reverses its position on Ukraine, Reuters quoted a senior administration official as saying.

Officials acknowledged to Fox News that Europeans are skeptical of sanctions against Russia that may harm European economies, but these allies are also concerned that without sanctions, the situation in Ukraine could escalate.

Pressed on any potential military action if Putin takes more territory, the officials said they still see no scenario involving military action of any kind

Earlier Tuesday, at a press conference, Putin insisted that none of his troops had moved into Crimea -- a statement that stunned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

When informed by a reporter of Putin's claim, Kerry -- who arrived in Kiev on Tuesday -- smiled and said, "He really denied there were troops in Crimea?"

Putin's claim came as Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said that ministers from his country and their Russian counterparts have started holding talks in a bid to ease tensions on the disputed Crimean Peninsula.

In other developments:

• Kerry, who is visiting Kiev to show support for the country’s new leaders, called Russia’s response to the Ukrainian crisis an “act of aggression.”

• Kerry said it was “incredibly moving” to visit the sites where dozens of protesters were killed during anti-government demonstrations that led to President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster.

• Ukraine’s border guard service says two Russian navy ships have blocked off both ends of a strait that separates Russia and the Crimea region, Reuters reports.

• Turkey’s Air Force revealed Tuesday that it scrambled eight F-16 fighter jets a day earlier after a Russian surveillance plane flew parallel along its Black Sea coast, according to Reuters.

• The White House has announced a $1 billion package of energy aid, training for financial and election institutions, and anti-corruption efforts for Ukraine.

Putin, speaking at a news conference at his residence outside Moscow on Tuesday, denied that the troops guarding Ukrainian military installations across Crimea were regular Russian troops, claiming that they were "local self-defense forces." Many of the uniforms on those troops lack identifying insignia, but their vehicles and uniforms appear to be Russian. Putin shrugged the accusation off, saying "The post-Soviet space is full of such uniforms."

Putin said Tuesday that Moscow reserved the right to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine by any means necessary, but added that force would be used only as a last resort. His remarks were his first public comments on the situation in Ukraine since Yanukovych fled Kiev on February 22. The Russian leader accused the West of using Yanukovych's decision in November to ditch a pact with the 28-nation European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia to encourage the months of protests that drove him from power.

Putin said that Yanukovych has no political future and claimed that the former Ukrainian leader would have been killed if Russia had not granted him protection. Yanukovych is wanted by Ukraine's interim government on charges of planning the mass murder of civilians during the recent protests. At least 82 people were killed in Kiev in clashes between protesters and security forces prior to Yanukovych's flight into Russia.

Putin blamed Ukraine's opposition for the ongoing crisis, calling it an "unconstitutional coup” and “armed seizure of power."

He went on to say that Ukraine's interim president, parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchynov, was "not legitimate. From the legal perspective it is Mr. Yanukovych who is president." Yanukovych fled Kiev one day after reaching an agreement with leaders of the opposition that was brokered by the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Poland. Earlier this week, Yanukovych was granted protection by Russia.

Yatseniuk told reporters Tuesday that between Russia and Ukraine, “consultations have started at the level of ministers,” but did not elaborate, according to Reuters.

Kerry, meanwhile, said the United States will stand by Ukrainian people “as they build the strong, sovereign and democratic country they deserve.”

U.S. officials traveling with Kerry told The Associated Press that the Obama administration is considering slapping Russia with unspecified economic sanctions as soon as this week. Kerry said Tuesday that it was “quite remarkable” to see the barricades, barbed wire and bullet holes in street lamps in Kiev.

In response to threats of sanctions, Putin said that the West should be bear in mind that it will also suffer damage from potential sanctions, which he called "counterproductive and harmful."

Earlier Tuesday, the Kremlin said Putin had ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops participating in military exercises near Ukraine's border to return to their bases. The massive military exercise in western Russia involving 150,000 troops, hundreds of tanks and dozens of aircraft was supposed to wrap up anyway, so it was not clear if Putin's move was an attempt to heed the West's call to de-escalate the crisis.

As part of the change of power in Ukraine, early elections have been scheduled to take place May 25, but Putin said that Russia would not recognize the results of those elections if they were held under what he called "such terror as we see now."

Putin echoed remarks made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Monday at a United Nations forum in Geneva in which Russia's top diplomat said that the price of halting Russian action in Crimea was reinstating the terms of the February 21 agreement, which called for early elections and limited Yanukovych's powers, but did not remove him from office.

Ukraine’s leadership has accused Moscow of a military invasion in the Crimean Peninsula. But the Kremlin, which does not recognize the new Ukrainian leadership, insists it made the move in order to protect Russian installations and its citizens living there.

There have been no reports of fighting or casualties since the Russian troop deployments in Crimea began this past Friday. However, there have been signs of increasing tension as pro-Russian troops fired warning shots to ward off protesting Ukrainian soldiers at the Belback Air Base in Sevastopol. A senior Russian Army officer also told a group of angry Ukrainian marines in Feodosia that he was given orders from Putin to disarm them and wanted them to lock their weapons in a warehouse, The Guardian reports.



Ukrainian border guards say Russian armored vehicles were spotted on the Russian side of the Kerch Strait, which separates Russia and Crimea, but the Russian military has not confirmed the sightings, Reuters reports.

In Brussels, meanwhile, the ambassadors of NATO's 28 member nations will hold a second emergency meeting on Ukraine on Tuesday after Poland, which borders both Russia and Ukraine, invoked an article calling for consultations when a nation sees its "territorial integrity, political independence or security threatened," the alliance said in a statement.

Earlier Tuesday, Russia's agricultural oversight agency issued a statement declaring a reversal of its earlier decision to lift the ban on imports of U.S. pork. It said the existing U.S. system of checks don't guarantee its safety.

Putin's economic advisor, Sergei Glazyev, said that Russia can develop financial ties with other nations to offset any potential Western sanctions.

The European Union's foreign ministers on Monday threatened Moscow with halting talks on visa liberalization and negotiations on further economic cooperation unless Russian troops on the Crimean peninsula pull back over the next three days.

The bloc's heads of state and government will hold an emergency meeting on the situation in Ukraine on Thursday that will decide on imposing the sanctions if there is no de-escalation on the ground, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[jlprk]

It's American Republican ego-trippers against all of Europe. Gee, I wonder whether you guys will win.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/03/04/220149/us-europe-split-over-imposing.html

 

[Denny Crane]

It's American Republican ego-trippers against all of Europe. Gee, I wonder whether you guys will win.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/03/04/220149/us-europe-split-over-imposing.html

So you post an article showing Obama can't even influence our allies in Europe?

Nice!

 

[Eastoff]

So, we can't throw Russia out of the G8, so we're going to throw ourselves out of the G8? That'll teach 'em!

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/0...ional-overthrow-yanukovych-for-crimea-crisis/

I think you left out that the other 6 nations in the G8 will be boycotting it too.

 

[julius]

I think you left out that the other 6 nations in the G8 will be boycotting it too.

Well, that doesn't make Obama look as bad.

 

[Cryptkeeper]

So you post an article showing Obama can't even influence our allies in Europe?

Nice!

But what if the rest of Euro is being secretly threatened into silence by Vladimir Pouting?


:MARIS61:

 

[donkiez]

I think you left out that the other 6 nations in the G8 will be boycotting it too.

Or that the G8 summit is in Sochi. Dont let facts get in the way of our blind Obama rage though. Rabble rabble rabble

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[Cryptkeeper]

Or that the G8 summit is in Sochi. Dont let facts get in the way of our blind Obama rage though. Rabble rabble rabble

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

Blind Obama rage is the Republican trademark.

 

[maxiep]

Blind Obama rage is the Republican trademark.

Firstly, it's not rage, it's disagreement. But you keep believing Media Matters talking points.

 

[jlprk]

Republicans pretend to want law and order, so they should want Russia to invade Ukraine to restore the rule of law. Turn off your sound (this is in German) and watch 12 minutes of how the new Western Ukrainian government has ordered its police to let the Western-funded fascist "nonviolent demonstrators" attack police.

 

[PapaG]

I think you left out that the other 6 nations in the G8 will be boycotting it too.

Hmm ... missed that one. Where is the link?

It appears Italy and the others are still onboard, and will just threaten to miss preliminary meetings, and not the actual summit.. Did you get your false post from the already debunked DailyKos article?

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/721875

BRUSSELS, March 03, /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s partners in the Group of Eight (Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, France, and Japan) are not discussing a boycott of the G8 summit in Sochi in June, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said after an urgent meeting of the EU foreign ministers on Ukraine held on Monday, March 3.

Seems like the WH and their media misrepresented what was actually discussed on Sunday.

 

[Eastoff]

Hmm ... missed that one. Where is the link?

It appears Italy and the others are still onboard, and will just threaten to miss preliminary meetings, and not the actual summit.. Did you get your false post from the already debunked DailyKos article?

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/721875



Seems like the WH and their media misrepresented what was actually discussed on Sunday.

That was news to me!

Perhaps your article missed the vital part though.

http://newseurope.me/2014/03/06/russias-g8-partners-discussing-boycott-summit-sochi-italian-fm/

The communique adopted unanimously after a long discussion and released by the White House does not call for boycotting the summit but calls for suspending the G7 countries’ participation in the preparatory meetings, she said.

boycott suspension. I guess this physics degree can't tell the difference.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

yeah..funny how that works. Listen too obama and the local press, and they gave the impression that the US was to skip the entire event..read the BBC or other sources, and you realize just how much bs and bluster this is. typical obama.

 

[donkiez]

That was news to me!

Perhaps your article missed the vital part though.

http://newseurope.me/2014/03/06/russias-g8-partners-discussing-boycott-summit-sochi-italian-fm/



boycott suspension. I guess this physics degree can't tell the difference.

Looks like it was always just a boycott of the prep meetings, which amounts to just a bunch of diplomatic huff and puffs. Probably the right call IMO, Russia hasnt done anyrhing yet but should be warned without overracting and causing further escalation.


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[DaLincolnJones]

Looks like it was always just a boycott of the prep meetings, which amounts to just a bunch of diplomatic huff and puffs. Probably the right call IMO, Russia hasnt done anyrhing yet but should be warned without overracting and causing further escalation.


Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

russia gives zero fucks about what the west thinks..just today npr said that russian law makers were streamlining a way to allow Crimea back into the russian federation, and it should be able to do so as early as next week.. fucking joke..obama garners no respect, nor does he deserve any

 

[Eastoff]

russia gives zero fucks about what the west thinks..just today npr said that russian law makers were streamlining a way to allow Crimea back into the russian federation, and it should be able to do so as early as next week.. fucking joke..obama garners no respect, nor does he deserve any

Shouldn't you at least care if the US gets respect, irregardless of who is the President?

 

[DaLincolnJones]

Shouldn't you at least care if the US gets respect, irregardless of who is the President?

typical

where did I imply that I did not care? Thats some pretty weak ass shit you play..fact is I care deeply, and i am extremely disgusted with the lack of leadership your CIC displays.

 

[Eastoff]

typical

where did I imply that I did not care? Thats some pretty weak ass shit you play..fact is I care deeply, and i am extremely disgusted with the lack of leadership your CIC displays.

I'm sorry. From the tone you guys use to describe Obama, I put my own false impression on how you are describing Russia. I was in the wrong. However he is your fucking CIC too.

 

[donkiez]

russia gives zero fucks about what the west thinks..just today npr said that russian law makers were streamlining a way to allow Crimea back into the russian federation, and it should be able to do so as early as next week.. fucking joke..obama garners no respect, nor does he deserve any

What would be a better course of action for us to take then?

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[maxiep]

What would be a better course of action for us to take then?

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It's too late. Our diplomatic posturing left Putin little doubt we wouldn't respond if he moved into Ukraine.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

What would be a better course of action for us to take then?

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

yeah..I think Maxie hit he nail on the head..all of the bull shit and bluster has served no use. At this point the best course may be to allow Ukraine and Crimea to work out this situation them selves,. if Crimea is 60% ethnic Russians and they vote to join the Russian Federation, really, what can we say? Do we want to disallow their freedom of choice? meh..makes no sense..obama needs to stop using this as a point of focus, and stop drawing lines in the sand..I dont think Putin is going to bail him out on this one..

 

[MarAzul]

Shouldn't you at least care if the US gets respect, irregardless of who is the President?

uh, all we can do is observe what is. Putin looked Obama in the eye and saw fucking flake.

Then proceeded with his plan. I imagine the former KGB boss gets a heck of bang out of watching
Obama Pose, Posture and Rant.

All we can do here is hope you all make better voting decision at the next opportunity.
But for now learn, study the example you don't want in the future. We have it on display daily.