Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ukraine crisis: Angry Angela Merkel questions whether Putin is 'in touch with reality'
Telegraph ^ | 1:42PM GMT 03 Mar 2014 | Tony Paterson, Berlin

Posted on 03/03/2014 9:51:21 AM PST by DaveMSmith

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is reported to have become “really annoyed” about Russian President Vladimir Putin and has questioned whether he “was still in touch with reality.”

The German mass circulation Bild newspaper wrote on Monday that during a telephone conversation she held with US President Barack Obama to discuss the growing crisis in Ukraine she complained that Mr Putin was “living in another world.”

“She appears to have become really annoyed,” Bild remarked. The paper said it had gained inside information on the telephone exchange between the US and German leaders from American sources.

The two leaders roundly criticised Mr Putin in their conversation and agreed that Russia’s military intervention in Crimea was in violation of international law. A German government spokesman said that both stressed that it was important for the international community to respond to the crisis in unison.

Both were said to be in favour of sending an immediate fact finding mission to Ukraine and backed the idea of setting up of a contact group, possibly overseen by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, with the aim of ending the crisis through political dialogue.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Germany; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: angelamerkel; crimea; eu; eucartel; euimf; germany; merkel; obama; putin; russia; ukraine; ukrainecrisis; viktoryanukovich; yuliatymoshenko
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 141-146 next last
To: dfwgator

There are many reasons a strong Russia is good for America - economic and regarding the Muslim issue as you point out.

The logical solution for the current events would be to allow people in Crimea to hold their own election and vote on autonomy. I believe this is where Putin is going and while he is tipping the odds in his favor the claim by Russia was established long ago by the populace.

Crimea would have voted to join Russia at any point in recent history and a good argument can be made supporting the benefit for it’s population. If we claim to support self-determination how can we refuse Crimea the right to secede from an already fractured nation?

All the hype being driven in the media has ignored the fact that the Russians may have had more soldiers there before the crisis than the Ukrainians did and they were not really an “occupying power”.

I am starting to believe the world, and even America, would be a safer and more sane place if more fracturing occurred to better reflect reality. How many nations are made up of two or three distinct groups in distinct regions under one government? I think America would be far better off if we made some more states to better reflect reality instead of allowing city-states to dominate entire regions. Why should condo-dwellers in downtown Denver be able to control all the family farms and water in Colorado?

Food for thought....


61 posted on 03/03/2014 12:47:33 PM PST by volunbeer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: DaveMSmith

Angela better watch her tongue. Vladimir might turn off her natural gas or oil


62 posted on 03/03/2014 12:48:59 PM PST by tillacum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: floralamiss

Almost like the “Free State of Danzig” between the two World Wars.


63 posted on 03/03/2014 12:50:47 PM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: selfdefense

[I truly do miss a leader who loved his country.....]

So do we all FRiend.


64 posted on 03/03/2014 12:59:56 PM PST by potlatch ("Dream as if you'll live forever...Live as if you'll die today")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: Marguerite

...within Ukraine and in accordance with the laws of Ukraine


65 posted on 03/03/2014 1:00:35 PM PST by floralamiss
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Indeed.


66 posted on 03/03/2014 1:14:36 PM PST by floralamiss
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: Mi-kha-el
And you believe that Putin hasn't calculated all of those factors already?
That he's a silly fool dancing on the world stage?
That puts you in the ranks of those standing on the sidelines and bitching.

"Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
-Thucydides,

67 posted on 03/03/2014 3:05:06 PM PST by bill1952 (Choice is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: DaveMSmith

She’s talking to Obama about Putin not being in touch with reality? That’s really calling black, pot.


68 posted on 03/03/2014 3:24:20 PM PST by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aegiscg47

Charlie Gasparino said on Cavuto’s show that sanctions will drop the DOW by 3,000. He also advised to get cash out of the big banks.


69 posted on 03/03/2014 3:26:51 PM PST by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: bill1952

That puts me in the ranks of those who don’t want two brotherly Slavic nations to shed each others’ blood in a fratricidal war for madmen’s ambitions. The Russian people don’t want that war any more than the Ukeanians. I guess they are all just bitching.


70 posted on 03/03/2014 3:54:42 PM PST by Mi-kha-el ((There is no Pravda in Izvestiya and no Izvestiya in Pravda.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: DaveMSmith

Everyone knows that Obama doesn’t scare Putin, so we’re hoping that tough talk from Merkel might.


71 posted on 03/03/2014 3:57:27 PM PST by Cementjungle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DaveMSmith

=> “...is reported to have become...”

=> “...from American sources.”

I guess we are suppose to the German’s are distressed by these events, based on American sources who are undoubtedly friendly to Obama.

How about another perspective. The EU is failing and the petrodollar is failing faster under Obama. Germany can buy every therm of natural gas they need from Russia and all the train loads of minerals they need neatly delivered from Russia...turn both around handily for a trade surplus selling products in Russia. Mercedes, BMW, Siemens industrial/telecom products, etc., etc.

If the Germans weren’t already moving closer to Russia we wouldn’t need “American sources” to leak their distain.


72 posted on 03/03/2014 4:42:33 PM PST by Fitzy_888 ("ownership society")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chasio649

How do you know? (couldn’t resist)

But that aside, why is it bad? Germany is powerless militarily. And financially they make a move against Russia to cause them pain, Putin walks outside and turns off the gas spigot for a few weeks. Or maybe increases his gas price 30% overnight.

Eventually EU could overcome it, but it’d be a VERY painful shock for several months.

Its actually kind of quaint. Its like the world has forgotten the Saudi Oil embargo.


73 posted on 03/03/2014 7:44:56 PM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Georgia Girl 2

“Angie are you annoyed enough to agree to vote Pootey out of the G8?”

Well you see,,, Germany gets rather chilly. Especially if the gas turns off and you have just moved to shut down all your nuke power plants.


74 posted on 03/03/2014 7:50:02 PM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: DaveMSmith

Putin is more in touch with reality than Merkel is.

Putin is behaving as a rational actor - using the resources at his control to protect his nation’s military and economic interests. He, unlike many leftists in the west, is very sanely making decisions based on incentive and disincentive.

What is more, the Ukraine does not have the ability to defend its sovereignty. It is a militarily and economically weak neighbor, and the only possible way the Ukraine could be kept free is with military intervention by the EU or US - both of whom are not particularly interested in going to war over the issue.

Russia is in a position to show the rest of the former soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries who is really in charge. This ensures a steady flow of money from GAZPROM’s exports, a steady accumulation of political capital from the economic and energy dependence created by said exports, and a preservation of Russia’s military force projection capabilities, all while demonstrating vividly on the world stage that no one is going to come to your rescue if Putin comes knocking on your door. All in all, quite a beneficial arrangement for the Russians.

I’m sure Mr. Putin will allow panty-waist Euroweenies like Merkel to continue to cry and moan about the lack of homosexual tolerance in Russia, while Russia demonstrates skillful buggering of neighboring nations well into the foreseeable future.


75 posted on 03/03/2014 7:52:23 PM PST by jameslalor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DesertRhino

Yep. Germany will never vote Putey off the G8. We need their vote to do it.


76 posted on 03/03/2014 7:52:23 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: blueunicorn6

Pad Americana lasted for almost 20 years. It’s the end of our “Golden Age”.


77 posted on 03/03/2014 8:00:22 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Georgia Girl 2

We won’t either, and shouldn’t. After 9/11 they gave us free use of former Red Air force bases to supply our forces in Afghanistan. NO treaty, no rent, just handed us the keys.

After Pakistan shut off our supply routes, guess where much of the slack was taken up? The routes thru Russia were utilized more.

They could show us the door anytime as unwelcome ingrates. Russian has been spoken in Crimea and has had some deep relationship with Moscow since 1789. This is much ado about little.


78 posted on 03/03/2014 8:15:57 PM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: DaveMSmith

Has WW3 begun? Thanks, Obama.


79 posted on 03/03/2014 11:52:50 PM PST by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DaveMSmith
Vlad, you bad boy!


80 posted on 03/04/2014 6:51:38 AM PST by Grampa Dave ( Obozo Care is a Trinity of Lies! Obozo Care is probably a serious Black Swan event.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 141-146 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson