Russia signals Obama he wants bigger, better concessions
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:50 pm
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President Putin of Russia is using this weekend to send a number of clear, non-verbal, messages to Obama.
The first message was that this crisis is not about the Crimea, it is about the entire country of Ukraine.
Obama made offers regarding Russia legally keeping the Crimean portion of Ukraine, Russia refused to even consider the offers, made clear Russia already had the Crimea and did not need the west's help in keeping it, and made clear that major additional concessions from Obama, regarding Russian dominance of all of Ukraine. were required to settle the international crisis, as Obama, and other Western leaders, are so desperate to do, and do quickly.
Today, Saturday March 15th, Russia refused to negotiate on the terms of the U.N. Security Council draft resolution offered by Obama as a vehicle of compromise and instead elected to simply veto the draft resolution, thereby killing the only "legal off ramp" offered by Obama, and forcing Obama to admit the failure of his current diplomatic effort to end the crisis.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/ ... 5W20140315
Russia pulls foreign currency reserves out of U.S. Fed.
Russian banks and Russian citizens have over the past days and weeks, pulled the vast majority of their Billions of dollars, in cash and western government bonds, out of financial institutions in Europe and the United States. These actions effectively economically punish the West for threatening sanctions, even before the west actually implements the threatened financial sanctions, prevents the West from actually acting on threats to freeze Billions of dollars of Russian assets in western banks, and they allow Russia to punish the West even further if sanctions are implemented, and the barn door is slammed shut, after virtually all the large amounts of Russian cash and Russian owned western bonds have been removed. Russian remains free to immediately sell the western bonds as retaliation for any sanctions actually imposed by the west.
Putin's military forces are taking direct control of energy nodes inside Russia and also inside parts of Ukraine outside the Crimean peninsula.
Russian irregular forces inside north-east Ukraine, far North of Crimea, are attacking, beating, stabbing and killing members of tiny Ukrainian political parties that do NOT hold power in the Ukrainian government, but which are political opponents of the pro-Russian Ukrainian political party. Russia is now claiming these acts of violence ( such as Russian irregular forces, operating inside of eastern Ukraine, attacking the offices of these tiny Ukrainian political parties inside east Ukrainian cities ), escalated to murder, by irregular Russian forces operating inside Ukraine, is proof Russian speaking ethnic Ukrainians, all across Ukraine, need the protection of armed Russian troops.
Russian armed forces are continuing to conduct large scale invasion drills just outside the Ukrainian border.
Russia is now using the same language to justify the invasion of North-East Ukraine, as Russia used to initiate Russia's invasion of South-East Ukraine over the past two weeks. Reports, unconfirmed, of military confrontations in South Eastern Ukraine outside of Crimea, between Ukrainian troops, and Russian troops ( supported by Russian attack helicopters and Russian armored vehicles ) are coming in.
.
.
.
.
President Putin of Russia is using this weekend to send a number of clear, non-verbal, messages to Obama.
The first message was that this crisis is not about the Crimea, it is about the entire country of Ukraine.
Obama made offers regarding Russia legally keeping the Crimean portion of Ukraine, Russia refused to even consider the offers, made clear Russia already had the Crimea and did not need the west's help in keeping it, and made clear that major additional concessions from Obama, regarding Russian dominance of all of Ukraine. were required to settle the international crisis, as Obama, and other Western leaders, are so desperate to do, and do quickly.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/ ... OP20140314Rueters wrote:A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kerry presented Lavrov with a number of concrete proposals to defuse tensions and address concerns by Moscow over security and protection of minorities within a united Ukraine.
Today, Saturday March 15th, Russia refused to negotiate on the terms of the U.N. Security Council draft resolution offered by Obama as a vehicle of compromise and instead elected to simply veto the draft resolution, thereby killing the only "legal off ramp" offered by Obama, and forcing Obama to admit the failure of his current diplomatic effort to end the crisis.
Washington Times wrote: UNITED NATIONS —
Saturday, March 15th, 2014
Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution ... on the future of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula ...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... z2w5YBmefYReuters wrote:
President Barack Obama's national security team discussed the Ukraine crisis in a session at the White House on Saturday after a last-ditch bid to find a diplomatic solution to the Cold War-style standoff with Russia floundered.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/ ... 5W20140315
Russia pulls foreign currency reserves out of U.S. Fed.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-1 ... ation.htmlBloomberg News Service wrote:Treasuries held by foreign central banks dropped by $104 billion to $2.86 trillion in the week ending March 12, according to Fed data released yesterday, as the turmoil in Ukraine intensified. As of December, Russia held $138.6 billion of Treasuries, making it the ninth largest country holder. Russia’s holdings are about 1 percent of the $12.3 trillion in marketable Treasuries outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“The timing of the drop in custody holdings makes Russia a more likely suspect,” said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy in New York at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in a telephone interview. “If Russia did it, then they may have transferred the holdings to another bank outside of the U.S.”
Russian banks and Russian citizens have over the past days and weeks, pulled the vast majority of their Billions of dollars, in cash and western government bonds, out of financial institutions in Europe and the United States. These actions effectively economically punish the West for threatening sanctions, even before the west actually implements the threatened financial sanctions, prevents the West from actually acting on threats to freeze Billions of dollars of Russian assets in western banks, and they allow Russia to punish the West even further if sanctions are implemented, and the barn door is slammed shut, after virtually all the large amounts of Russian cash and Russian owned western bonds have been removed. Russian remains free to immediately sell the western bonds as retaliation for any sanctions actually imposed by the west.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ffea2660 ... z2w5DpmZ5PFinancial Times wrote: Russian companies are pulling billions out of western banks, fearful that any US sanctions over the Crimean crisis could lead to an asset freeze, according to bankers in Moscow.
Sberbank and VTB, Russia’s giant partly state-owned banks, as well as industrial companies, such as energy group Lukoil, are among those repatriating cash from western lenders with operations in the US. VTB has also cancelled a planned US investor summit next month, according to bankers.
The flight comes as last-ditch diplomatic talks between Russia’s foreign minister and the US secretary of state to resolve the tensions in Ukraine ended without an agreement.
Putin's military forces are taking direct control of energy nodes inside Russia and also inside parts of Ukraine outside the Crimean peninsula.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/eur ... story.htmlWashington Post wrote: Saturday, March 15, 4:25 PM -
Russian troops in four helicopter gunships and three armored combat vehicles descended on the natural gas facility near the village of Strilkove about 1:30 p.m. local time, according to Ukrainian officials. The Russians said they had seized the site out of fears it would be targeted by “terrorists,” according to a Ukrainian Defense Ministry official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
A Ukrainian border guard spokesman, Oleg Slobodyan, said Saturday evening that 120 Russian soldiers were still occupying the site and had not agreed to Ukrainian demands to leave. No shots had been fired, he said, but added that Ukrainian military forces had mobilized to just outside the city of Henichesk, putting themselves between the Russian force and the Ukrainian mainland.
In a statement, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry demanded that the Russian side withdraw immediately and said that “Ukraine reserves the right to use all necessary measures to stop the military invasion by Russia.”
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry initially said in a statement that the Russians had left the area after a period of negotiation. But the ministry later corrected itself, saying its earlier statement was based on false information and that the Russians were still occupying the site.
Russian irregular forces inside north-east Ukraine, far North of Crimea, are attacking, beating, stabbing and killing members of tiny Ukrainian political parties that do NOT hold power in the Ukrainian government, but which are political opponents of the pro-Russian Ukrainian political party. Russia is now claiming these acts of violence ( such as Russian irregular forces, operating inside of eastern Ukraine, attacking the offices of these tiny Ukrainian political parties inside east Ukrainian cities ), escalated to murder, by irregular Russian forces operating inside Ukraine, is proof Russian speaking ethnic Ukrainians, all across Ukraine, need the protection of armed Russian troops.
http://news.yahoo.com/pro-kiev-proteste ... 15268.htmlAFP wrote:Some 1,000 pro-Kiev had rallied in the eastern Ukrainian city, once a bastion of support for ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, when they were attacked by participants in a 2,000-strong pro-Moscow rally, which broke through a police cordon, the local health ministry said.
The 22-year-old was killed as demonstrators were attacked by a pro-Moscow rally, health services said.
"According to preliminary conclusions by doctors, he has been stabbed," the local branch of Ukraine's health ministry told AFP, as regional authorities spoke of another 16 wounded in the clashes. Thirteen of these were in trauma or in surgery with serious injuries, one was hospitalized and two could be treated at the scene, Ilya Suzdalev, a spokesman for the regional authorities, said.
Times of India wrote: The second successive day of deadly unrest that has now claimed three lives in the mainly Russian-speaking east of the country came hours after Moscow, whose forces have seized control of Crimea, warned that it reserved the right to "protect" compatriots in the whole of Ukraine.
The Telegraph wrote:
Saturday, 5:15PM GMT 15 Mar 2014
Pro-Russian demonstrators stormed the Ukrainian Security Service building in the eastern city of Donetsk on Saturday, on the eve of the disputed Crimean referendum.
Protesters forced open the entrance to the building and took down the Ukrainian flag to replace it with a flag modeled on that of the soviet-era Independent Republic of Donetsk, which briefly broke away from Ukraine in 1918.
Russian armed forces are continuing to conduct large scale invasion drills just outside the Ukrainian border.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... oting.htmlThe Daily Beast wrote:Russia has no plans to invade southeastern Ukraine, the country’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said at a press conference in London on Friday. Russia’s massive military buildup along Ukraine’s borders appears to tell a different story.
Large columns of Russian tanks, troops and military vehicles massed on Ukraine’s borders yesterday, in what may not be a sign of impending war but is a clear escalation and attempt to shape the country’s future by threat of force.
Russia’s defense ministry, which had earlier denied the military buildup, acknowledged operations along the border but described them as training exercises. Moscow’s invasion and de facto occupation of Crimea, was also preceded by Russian military exercises along the region’s border.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/rus ... story.htmlWashington Post wrote:Russia is gathering thousands of troops, as well as artillery and other equipment, at its border with Ukraine as part of military training exercises that also serve as a blunt reminder of Russia’s ability to easily move deeper into the neighboring country.
The exercises are set to take place over the next two weeks amid a standoff with the United States and Europe over the fate of Ukraine’s autonomous Crimea region, currently occupied by Russian troops.
Russia is now using the same language to justify the invasion of North-East Ukraine, as Russia used to initiate Russia's invasion of South-East Ukraine over the past two weeks. Reports, unconfirmed, of military confrontations in South Eastern Ukraine outside of Crimea, between Ukrainian troops, and Russian troops ( supported by Russian attack helicopters and Russian armored vehicles ) are coming in.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3dfe36d0 ... z2w5DpmZ5PFinancial Times wrote: Russia said, it was looking at requests for help from civilians in Ukraine, a statement which appeared to resemble those made two weeks ago in justification of its military incursion into Crimea.
“Russia is receiving numerous requests for protecting civilians. These requests will be given consideration,” the foreign ministry said. It added a string of claims that Ukrainian militants and mercenaries were threatening civilians, which could not immediately be verified.
The claims follow a statement from Moscow this week that the Russian government reserved the “right to protect” Russians in Ukraine.
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