Ukraine: Putin-Obama relationship in deep freeze

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obama putin on phone

As the rest of the world watches Ukraine, so does the White House.

President Barack Obama couldnโ€™t have been clearer when he warned Russia not to send troops into Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin couldnโ€™t have been clearer in his response: Watch me.

And just like that, an already toxic relationship got even worse, and the two countries โ€” and the rest of the world โ€” veered closer to an unprecedented showdown.

The two leaders spoke Saturday for 90 minutes about the situation in Ukraine, the White House said.

Obama started his presidency pushing for a โ€œresetโ€ in Russian relations. Instead, Putin has essentially pulled the plug.

Critics have been complaining for years that Obama hasnโ€™t figured out what to do about Putin, but itโ€™s not clear thereโ€™s figuring out to do.

โ€œI donโ€™t think itโ€™s a question of not being able to understand Putin,โ€ said Steve Pifer, one of President Bill Clintonโ€™s ambassadors to the Ukraine. โ€œItโ€™s a question of what tools do you have to respond.โ€

โ€œPart of the problem is here is the strength of the motivations on the Russian side,โ€ Pifer added. Putin โ€œcares a whole lot more about losing Ukraine than the West cares about keeping it.โ€

When Obama issued his warning at the White House late Friday, he was relying, as he said, only on reports of troop movements in Crimea. Many of those were coming from the Ukrainian prime minister, whoโ€™d spent the day demanding Russia recall its forces, both in public statements and in an afternoon phone conversation with Vice President Joe Biden.

The White House woke up Saturday morning to more definitive news: Putin asked for, and received, approval from Parliament for โ€œusing the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country,โ€ according to an Associated Press translation of his request. The upper house of Parliament also recommended the recall of the Russian ambassador to the United States in retaliation for Obamaโ€™s comments Friday.

For hours after the Parliament vote Saturday, the White House stayed silent, trying to figure out what to do next. For now, no one seems to know the answer, though after a national security team meeting Saturday afternoon that a White House official said Obama did not attend but Biden joined by video conference from Arizona, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with his Russian counterpart Saturday to talk about the lack of American military movement.

Obama was on the phone with various world leaders during the meeting and was later briefed by National Security Adviser Susan Rice, the official said.

For personal, geopolitical and domestic reasons, Putin is determined to assert Russiaโ€™s place as a major global power, and facing off with an American president only helps that. As long as heโ€™s around โ€” and heโ€™s just 61 years old, and has already figured out how to maneuver around his countryโ€™s constitution to stay in control for 14 years straight, so heโ€™ll probably be around a while โ€” this isnโ€™t likely to change.

Obama, of course, has his own personal, geopolitical and domestic concerns. Those have driven decisions that havenโ€™t helped relations, from knocking Russia for its human rights record to coyly including several open LGBT members of the American delegation to the Sochi Olympics, which Obama said โ€œspeaks for itselfโ€ when asked if it was a deliberate rebuff to the Putin-backed anti-gay laws.

That capped off the worst year of Washington-Moscow relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin let NSA leaker Edward Snowden take refuge in Russia, Obama canceled a planned bilateral summit in September and they rammed into each other over what to do in Syria, before warily โ€” and so far unsuccessfully โ€” saying theyโ€™d work together to try to find a resolution.

Obamaโ€™s unspoken support of the Ukrainian revolution, while completely in line with longstanding American policy, only seemed to provoke Putin more. Other American politicians arguing that Obama has never been rough enough on Putin โ€” like House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who issued a statement Friday condemning Putinโ€™s โ€œhegemonic ambitionsโ€โ€”has, according to Russia experts, likely aggravated Moscow even more.

Putin and his supporters are determined to show theyโ€™re not cowed. And anyway, they remember President George W. Bushโ€™s warnings in 2008 that there would be consequences about the Russian military involvement in Georgia, and seem to assume that the same level of nothing will come out of Obamaโ€™s threat Friday as did from Bushโ€™s.

โ€œWere there really consequences for the Russians in those days?โ€ said Gene Rumer, who just finished as the national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia and now runs the Carnegie Endowment for International Peaceโ€™s program on the region. โ€œPutin probably thinks he doesnโ€™t really have any good options. But heโ€™ll get over the reputational risk.โ€

Putinโ€™s spokesman said Saturday that even after the votes, he hadnโ€™t made a decision about whether to actually send in troops or on what to do with the ambassador.

Nonetheless, asked how worried people should be, Rumer said, โ€œvery.โ€

Obama couldnโ€™t have said or done much more than he did Friday. Phrases like โ€œdeeply concerned,โ€ โ€œprofound interference,โ€ โ€œclear violationโ€ and a promise of โ€œcostsโ€ are as rough as things get in the language of international diplomacy, and the administration adding late Friday that they were considering canceling the planned trip to Sochi for the G-8 summit in June was the next notch up.

Pifer said the only possible route forward was more economic and political retaliation.

โ€œNobody seriously is going to be prepared to go to war over Crimea,โ€ Pifer said.

But America and its allies should consider the very strong move of kicking Russia out of the alliance of the worldโ€™s biggest democracies.

โ€œUnless you begin to behave in the next 24-28 hours,โ€ Pifer said Obama and his fellow world leaders should say together, โ€œitโ€™s not a question of going to Sochi, itโ€™s going back to a G-7.โ€

โ€œRussian companies and banks with business in the West will suffer as a result of reckless Putin decision. Will they speak up?โ€ Obamaโ€™s just-finished ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul tweeted Saturday afternoon.

For now they wait, since even the faintest indication of the smallest American military movement would still be a long way off, and avoided if at all possible.

But anxieties in the region wonโ€™t wait. Ukrainian troops appear to have remained on their bases for now, though that may only be able to hold so long โ€” and theyโ€™ve now been put on highest alert by the acting government. Plus, Ukraine shares a border with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, all of which have clear memories of Soviet occupation, and are going to be looking for reassurances from Obama and European leaders that theyโ€™re not looking at the first inklings of a remounted Russian empire.

โ€œAre we talking about the threat of any direct military confrontation between Russia and the U.S.? No,โ€ Rumer said. โ€œBut this is a very tense situation, and in a purely military sense, we have to keep in mind that the United States has allied commitments one-for-all, all-for-one under the NATO treaty to four of Ukraineโ€™s immediate neighbors.โ€

Still, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), whoโ€™s opposed nearly every move of Obamaโ€™s foreign policy with an emphasis of his mishandling of the Putin relationship, was among those issuing another critical statement Saturday afternoon.

โ€œEvery moment that the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in Ukraine,โ€ McCain said. โ€œThere is a range of serious options at our disposal at this time without the use of military force. I call on President Obama to rally our European and NATO allies to make clear what costs Russia will face for its aggression and to impose those consequences without further delay.โ€

Politico

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40 responses to “Ukraine: Putin-Obama relationship in deep freeze”

  1. master09 Avatar
    master09

    And the world economy going into free fall, thanks to muscle flexing by horse riding bear chested clowns playing with the lives of people for saying I’ve got a big D..k. Clowns

  2. master09 Avatar
    master09

    And the world economy going into free fall, thanks to muscle flexing by horse riding bear chested clowns playing with the lives of people for saying I’ve got a big D..k. Clowns

  3. patriotss Avatar
    patriotss

    Putin you are a good man and god bless you

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      So good, his wife decided she couldn’t stand his megalomania any more.

    2. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      So good, his wife decided she couldn’t stand his megalomania any more.

    3. MekensehParty Avatar
      MekensehParty

      You thinking that Putin is a good man is your opinion but asking God to bless him is a bit of a stretch

      1. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        Delta an Ukrainian born former IDF Israeli veteran, an Orthodox Jew in his 30s has headed 40 men and women – with several fellow IDF veterans – in violents clashes with government forces.
        He spoke to JTA, Delta is nom de guerre of the commander of Jewish led militia force,
        a street fighting unit that participated in the revolution (war), he calls his troops
        “the Blue Helmets of Maidan” but his unit helmet color is brown.

        1. MekensehParty Avatar
          MekensehParty

          and here comes the 5 cents of the History falsifiers…

          1. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            And thus spoke Zarathoustra 4 cents history falsifier Israeli propagandist!

            (JTA) The Jewish Telegraphe..agent Mekensehhh..

          2. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            And here’s all the things YOU and the ‘dreadlock-men’ with black hats hate about Israel โ€ฆ personally, I think the beaches are over-crowded. ๐Ÿ˜‰
            http://www.youtube.com/embed/tLgdb6r0MQ4?rel=0

          3. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Thank you i know Israel

            PS. We used to be friends, strange hein…..Hah hah..?

          4. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            And here’s all the things YOU and the ‘dreadlock-men’ with black hats hate about Israel โ€ฆ personally, I think the beaches are over-crowded. ๐Ÿ˜‰
            http://www.youtube.com/embed/tLgdb6r0MQ4?rel=0

        2. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Wow โ€ฆ 40. There are actually several different ‘gangs’ of Anarchists who have seen a moment to shine. Don’t confuse them with ‘the people’ like many did in Syria. There IS still a government in the Ukraine.

          1. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Who sent the “differents gangs” to Syria..same as Ukraine..Ow ! There’s a governement in Ukraine.?
            Hummm, there is still a government in Syria fighting the Shariadistic liberators.
            Palestinan Christians that racist Zionistes declared non-Arab, stand by Syria.

          2. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Ukraine will destroy the russian terrorists

          3. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Ukraine will destroy the russian terrorists

          4. Hannibal Avatar
            Hannibal

            The beheaded look so peaceful… I wonder if in the afterlife the head can find the right body.
            Now let us be serious Hind… I just started my day and as we all know what is going on in Syria do we really have to display it and without warning?

          5. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Sabah el kheir, bizarre..my reaction to an offense made me post
            the two pictures, the second offended you in return, i’m sorry ๐Ÿ™‚
            It’s impressing how peacefull they look, first time i see chopped head
            in the Levant, it could have been my father’s head, or a distant parent
            to others, Syrian and Lebanese Christians or Moslems were often related.
            The first is a peacefull gathering in West-Bank Christians and Moslems
            stand by Syria. Barbarians playing with human heads preferred to Assad,
            like 5th above, his replie is full of venom while my post was about Ukraine
            (The Jewish Telegraph), not about Syria.

          6. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Same reason for people wanting to be able to live instead of starving to death.
            Freedom from the megalomaniacs. The barbarians don’t count at all.

          7. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Professor …recycle or find another job…
            Tchaikovsky is the last on my list ๐Ÿ™‚

          8. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Sabah el kheir, bizarre..my reaction to 5th offense made me post two pictures, the second offended you in return, i’m sorry ๐Ÿ™‚ It’s impressing how peacefull they look, first time i see chopped head in the Levant, it could have been my father’s head, or a distant parent to others, Syrian and Lebanese Christians or Moslems were often related. The first is a peacefull gathering in West-Bank Christians and Moslems stand by Syria. Barbarians playing with human heads preferred to Assad, like 5th above, his replie is full of venom while my post was about Ukraine
            (The Jewish Telegraph), not about Syria.

          9. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Was not a ‘coup’. The chicken-shit left the building.

        3. 5th ass Avatar

          Where you come with all this stuff ? your intellect is dripping, your mouth opens up and out pours affection a knowledge filled with hallucination!

          1. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            This stuff up there..to your chagrin it comes from Kiev, many people are
            afraid of Neo-Nazi governements..many are waving Russian anti-Fascist
            flag.. as to my hallucinations i consider it the final encounter.
            I know you started provoking to force a response since i told you to ignore
            me and i said: Igor was right, by the way, each 5th-Mekhenzir insults gets
            barbie’s like..blessed you are………..

            P.S. No excuses for “the 5 cents history falsifier”? No class……..

          2. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Why you call yourself 5th ass? Ha Ha..I tought was responding to 5thDrawer… Mistaken identity… crass ass, this “stuff comes from “The Jewish Telegraph”.

            Do you know the Jews of Crimea became identified with Russian Jewish history, it was given to them for establishing colonies, till the Nazi invasion..
            most of the Jewish colonists fled East, entire collective farm fled together
            in convoys just ahead of the German troups to Kazakhistan or Uzbekistan,
            many joined the Red Army to fight the Nazis, they formed “Soviet Jewish
            anti-Fascist Commetee..the irony of this, Israeli Zionists fighting on side
            of Ukraine Nationalistes radical groups, who’ hero is WW2 Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.

          3. Hind, you need to be more sensitive with your questions, what if he lost 4 asses before and he is on his 5th ass and maybe doesn’t want to talk about it lol, hope you are doing well ๐Ÿ™‚

          4. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Humm..Geo..i will more carefull in the distant futur ..going out now:)

          5. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Needs a 5th of scotch โ€ฆ.

      2. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        Delta an Ukrainian born former IDF Israeli veteran, an Orthodox Jew in his 30s, has headed 40 men and women – with several fellow IDF veterans – in violents clashes with government forces. He spoke to JTA. Delta is nom de guerre of the commander of Jewish led militia force, a street fighting unit that participated in the revolution (war), he calls his troops “the Blue Helmets of Maidan” but his unit helmet color is brown. Israel participates with it’s own “masked men”..as it does in Syria, next Venezuela.

        Eveybody is masked.. Russia has to dialogue with the government who are masked
        men running trough the streets of Kiev.??

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Wow โ€ฆ 40. There are actually several different ‘gangs’ of Anarchists who have seen a moment to shine. Don’t confuse them with ‘the people’ like many did in Syria. There IS still a government in the Ukraine.

  4. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    One could understand that Russians don’t want their Naval base, and the virtual island where most of that Navy is retired onto, to be under what they would consider ‘foreign’ control – and where most of the people who live there feel ‘Russian’ it seems. But the rest of Ukraine is not happy with being a Russian lackey, and having it install little despots who line their own pockets and keep the economy in ruins.
    If Russia had boosted Ukraine like ‘The West’ has boosted Russia, and made sure a satellite buffer zone was happy and more content to be ‘on-side’ with it, this may never have occurred.
    But Russia runs always, it seems, with little despots and a KGB mentality. TAKE, not give.
    Putin grabs the vote โ€ฆ in one place with 104% โ€ฆ and people note it, but there it is. Chuckle Chuckle. This is how you survive under Communism โ€ฆ get used to it.
    ‘I can move some people over here and build a nice winter games park, and show the greatness of Mother Russia’, said Putin โ€ฆ and it was so. How much it cost was staggering, but that doesn’t matter. And the people are so used to it, they shrug and carry on trying to survive.
    For many in Ukraine, it was like other places with despotic regimes hanging over them โ€ฆ they couldn’t.

  5. patriotss Avatar
    patriotss

    i’m not his wife

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Think of the palaces you could live in โ€ฆ ๐Ÿ˜‰

  6. patriotss Avatar
    patriotss

    i’m not his wife

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Think of the palaces you could live in โ€ฆ ๐Ÿ˜‰

  7. MekensehParty Avatar
    MekensehParty

    Obama is a dove and Putin is a bull
    If the dove fails and the bull wins rest assured that such victory is temporary and mostly illusionary because guess who we’re going to vote for in the next elections?
    A Texan who knows very well how to handle bulls.
    The big loser on the short term is global peace and don’t blame the US, we voted for a dove in the first place…

  8. As the world spins more and more out of control, put your life in the hands of the One who made the world, and the universe…….Jesus, King of kings……..

    John 1:10-12…………..

    10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.

  9. As the world spins more and more out of control, put your life in the hands of the One who made the world, and the universe…….Jesus, King of kings……..

    John 1:10-12…………..

    10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.

  10. Hannibal Avatar
    Hannibal

    I wonder who is sleeping on the sofa in this strained relationship… ๐Ÿ˜‰

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Now you make me laugh hope the sofa is confortable…. ๐Ÿ™‚

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