Posted on 03/01/2014 12:53:21 PM PST by Jim Robinson
WASHINGTON — President Obama has warned Russia that “there will be costs” for a military intervention in Ukraine. But the United States has few palatable options for imposing such costs, and recent history has shown that when it considers its interests at stake, Russia has been willing to absorb any such fallout.
Even before President Vladimir V. Putin on Saturday made his first public gesture toward ordering Russian troops into the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, Mr. Obama and his team were already discussing how to respond. They talked about canceling the president’s trip to a summit meeting in Russia in June, shelving a possible trade agreement, kicking Moscow out of the Group of 8 or moving American warships to the region.
Armed forces block the Ukrainian naval border guard base at Balaklava Bay in Sevastopol.Kremlin Clears Way for Force in Ukraine; Separatist Split FearedMARCH 1, 2014 That is the same menu of actions that was offered to President George W. Bush in 2008 when Russia went to war with Georgia, another balky former Soviet republic. Yet the costs imposed at that time proved only marginally effective and short-lived. Russia stopped its advance but nearly six years later has never fully lived up to the terms of the cease-fire it signed. And whatever penalty it paid at the time evidently has not deterred it from again muscling a neighbor.
“The question is: are those costs big enough to cause Russia not to take advantage of the situation in the Crimea? That’s the $64,000 question,” said Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan, a retired Army officer who served as defense attaché in the American Embassy in Moscow and now, as a Harvard scholar, leads a group of former Russian and American officials in back-channel talks.
Mr. Putin has already demonstrated that...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Yep. Any talk of Ukraine joining NATO is pure folly.
Nice article,
Your first time posting here kid?
I’m mostly a lurker.
So...who is in charge? Hagel? The man just just days ago dazzled us with his foresight to cut the military? Say it ain’t so.
President Barack Obama fired a few verbs across the front armor of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tanks, in a rushed statement just after 5 p.m. on Friday.
The statement was made as Russian forces — including attack helicopters — appeared in peripheral parts of the Ukraine that are largely populated by ethnic Russians.
There’s no evidence that Obama wants to get involved in what may become a war between the Ukraine and Russia.
He did not threaten any significant retaliation if Russian force attack nor did he offer military aid to the Ukraine. He announced that Vice President Joe Biden — but not himself — has just talked to the Ukraine’s president.
“We have been very clear about one fundamental principle — the Ukrainian people deserve the opportunity to determine their own future,” Obama said.
“We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian federation inside the Ukraine. … Any violation Ukrainian sovereignty and territory would be deeply destabilizing,” he said.
A Russian intervention “would invite the condemnation of nations around the world… the United States will stand with the international community in affirming there will be costs.”
He did not specify the threatened costs, or draw a red line.
Thanks for everything big guy.
Why should obama attend the meeting? He’s not making the decisions.
Jim Rob - reading the NYT so we don’t have to. Did you have your airplane bag at the ready?
“That’s the $64,000 question,” said Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan, a retired Army officer who served as defense attaché in the American Embassy in Moscow and now, as a Harvard scholar, leads a group of former Russian and American officials in back-channel talks.”
I don’t know this guy but he’s about as astute as a box of rocks. If he thinks this is a $64,000 question I wonder where he’s been. Russia’s taking what they want is a done deal. The surprise would be that any part of Ukraine would not be brought back under Russian sphere of influence.
Limber up - the "flexibility" plan is next up.
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