dagblog - Comments for "Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows"

McCain Rails GOP on Ukraine

artappraiser — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 02:22:15 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

McCain Rails GOP on Ukraine Bill: ‘Don’t Call Yourself Reagan Republicans’ (Video)
By JM Rieger, Roll Call, March 13, 2014

Sen. John McCain hammered Republicans on the Senate floor Thursday for refusing to pass by unanimous consent a Senate Foreign Relation Committee bill which would provide economic aid while imposing sanctions on Russia.

“What has happened? Where are our priorities? You can call yourself Republicans, that’s fine, because that’s your voter registration. Don’t call yourself Reagan Republicans,” the Arizona Republican said.

The bill also includes IMF language, which Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, said isn’t necessary, and which some senators railed against Thursday. “This makes no sense,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said [....]

Arrest of gas magnate Firtash

artappraiser — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:42:10 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

Arrest of gas magnate Firtash basically means that EU/US have decided to play hardball & destroy Russia's corrupt gas schemes in Ukraine
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) March 13, 2014

@olgatokariuk All roads will lead back to Putin on this and there's a long history and a shitload of money. This will get very interesting
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) March 13, 2014

Panic at Crimea banks as

artappraiser — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:37:10 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

Panic at Crimea banks as secession govt restricts access to deposits, prepares nationalization pic via @radiosvoboda pic.twitter.com/TfoDpAAnXb
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) March 13, 2014

Russia Massing Military

artappraiser — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:32:11 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

Russia Massing Military Forces Near Border With Ukraine
By Steven Lee Myers and Alison Smale, New York Times, March 13, 2014

MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry announced new military operations in several regions near the Ukrainian border on Thursday, even as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany warned the Kremlin to abandon the politics of the 19th and 20th centuries or face diplomatic and economic retaliation from a united Europe.

In Moscow, the military acknowledged significant operations involving armored and airborne troops in the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions abutting eastern Ukraine, where many ethnic Russians have protested against the new interim government in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, and appealed to Moscow for protection.

A day after a deputy minister denied any military buildup on the border, the Defense Ministry released a series of statements beginning early Thursday that appeared to contradict that. They outlined what was described as intensive training of units involving artillery batteries, assault helicopters and at least 10,000 soldiers.

The operations confirmed, at least in part, assertions by Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday that Russia was massing forces [....]

Mr. Putin, who has remained in Sochi to attend the Paralympics there, has so far showed no sign of bending to international criticism. In a meeting on Wednesday with the directors of national Paralympic teams, he implicitly reiterated the Kremlin’s argument that the ouster of Mr. Yanukovych was an armed coup instigated by outside forces. “I would like to assure you that Russia was not the initiator of the circumstances we are now facing,” Mr. Putin said.

In her remarks, Ms. Merkel rejected any comparison between the situation in Crimea today and that in Kosovo in the late 1990s, when NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to halt the attacks on Kosovo Albanians by Serbian forces.

Ms. Merkel was clear that Germany would go along with the other 27 states of the European Union, and the United States, if Russia did not open meaningful diplomatic talks and the West moved to freeze Russian accounts and impose travel bans or restrictions on leading Russian figures.

“To make it unmistakably clear,” she said, “nobody wants it to come to that.” [....]

Could be wrong, but reading

artappraiser — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 03:10:52 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

Could be wrong, but reading between the lines of the below, sounds to me like what's going on is the west is going to try to see that Ukraine gets some much needed moola on condition they let Crimea go independent somehow--in a just for show independent kinda way, like this: you can't call it Russia, Putin, but maybe it can be sorta kinda Russian:

Obama Makes Diplomatic Push to Defuse Crisis in Ukraine
By Peter Baker and Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, March 12/13, 2014

[....] Obama hosted a White House visit by Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, the country’s pro-Western acting prime minister, and vowed to “stand with Ukraine.” But he also hinted at a formulation that could be the basis for the coming talks between Mr. Kerry and Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, recognizing Moscow’s interest in helping the Russian-speaking population in Crimea while affirming that it is part of Ukraine [....]

Mr. Obama said Mr. Yatsenyuk told him that a new Ukrainian government formed after elections scheduled for May 25 could find ways to address Crimea’s concerns. “There is a constitutional process in place and a set of elections that they can move forward on that, in fact, could lead to different arrangements over time with the Crimean region,” Mr. Obama said. “But that is not something that can be done with the barrel of a gun pointed at you.”

At a separate appearance later in the day, Mr. Yatsenyuk expressed willingness to consider concessions to Crimea. “We the Ukrainian government are ready to start a nationwide dialogue how to increase the rights of autonomous Republic of Crimea, starting with taxes and ending with other aspects like language issues,” he told an audience at the Atlantic Council [....]

Mr. Kerry employed similarly tough language during testimony Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where he said the United States and its partners were prepared to impose tough sanctions if Russia moved to annex Crimea. “It can get ugly fast if the wrong choices are made, and it can get ugly in multiple directions,” he said. “Our hope is that there is a way to have a reasonable outcome here.”

In fact, he suggested the two sides could continue talking even if Sunday’s referendum is held, as long as Russia stops short of annexation. “There are a lot of variants here, which is why it is urgent that we have this conversation with the Russians,” he said. The United States has “exchanged some thoughts” with Moscow on how to address the crisis, he said, but the two sides “haven’t had a meeting of the minds.”

For Mr. Yatsenyuk, the visit to Washington was not just about rallying support against Russia but was also an effort to seek an economic booster shot for his vulnerable economy. Yet even as both American political parties celebrated Mr. Yatsenyuk as a hero and promised to help Ukraine, a bid to provide financial assistance bogged down in a polarized Congress [....]

One thing the article does not draw a picture of is anything similar to the description of the situation I just heard on Chris Hayes' show by some foreign policy talking head. He basically made it sound like Obama was threatening war with Putin unless he backed down. I don't see any of that in this report.

Turkey's Crimea quandary By

artappraiser — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 19:50:50 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

Turkey's Crimea quandary
By Amanda Paul, Today's Zaman, 11 March, 2014

[....] despite Turkey wanting to protect and support its Tatar kin, Turkey does not want to damage its relationship with Moscow. Hence Ankara is trying to sit on the fence [....]

It's almost like he's still

artappraiser — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 17:50:41 +0000

In reply to I just read Peter Hitchen's

It's almost like he's still debating with his dead brother Christopher, who I cannot imagine doing anything other than vehemently supporting the Ukraine revolutionaries if he were still alive. Family probably did polemics every night at the dinner table.

I just read Peter Hitchen's

Aaron Carine — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 11:58:38 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

I just read Peter Hitchen's commentary on Ukraine. It seems to me to be horrible.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2565762/PETER-HITCHENS-Beware-...

Blames the victims, makes excuses for Russian militarism, etc. Reminds me of Edward Herman on Milosevic and the Serbs.

John Kerry declines Vladimir

artappraiser — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 05:15:21 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

John Kerry declines Vladimir Putin meeting
BBC News, 11 March, 2014

A meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin will not happen until Moscow engages with US proposals to tackle the crisis in Ukraine, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.

Mr Kerry told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Moscow's military intervention in Crimea had made any negotiations extremely difficult.

US officials say there will be little to talk about if the referendum on Crimea's future goes ahead. The referendum is to be held on Sunday [....]

In a televised briefing with President Putin on Monday, Mr Lavrov said proposals made by Mr Kerry for a negotiated solution to the crisis are "not suitable" because they take "the situation created by the coup as a starting point", referring to the overthrow of Ukraine's proRussian President, Viktor Yanukovych.

Washington says that there has been no official response yet to a set of questions Mr Kerry gave Mr Lavrov at the weekend, asking in particular whether Moscow is prepared to meet officials from the new Ukrainian government [....]

NATO reconnaissance planes to

artappraiser — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 02:49:09 +0000

In reply to Russia’s Move Into Ukraine Said to Be Born in Shadows

NATO reconnaissance planes to monitor Ukraine crisis
By David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2014

WASHINGTON — NATO said Monday that it will begin reconnaissance flights to keep watch on Ukraine, the latest military move intended to reassure U.S. allies in Eastern Europe that are worried about Russia’s incursion in Crimea.

The Airborne Warning and Control System planes, known as as AWACS, will begin flying soon over Poland and Romania, both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, “to monitor the crisis in Ukraine,” NATO said in a statement [....]