It's a familiar feeling for him.
Posted on 03/05/2014 8:01:20 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Russia on Wednesday turned down Secretary of State John Kerry's invitation to an emergency meeting on Ukraine, further adding to the growing tensions between Moscow and Washington.
Kerry hosted the meeting in Paris with the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Great Britain, which signed a 1994 treaty along with the U.S. and Russia guaranteeing Ukraine's territorial integrity if it gave up its nuclear arsenal.
The three countries on Wednesday slammed Russia's “continued violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” which they said would “only degrade Russia’s international standing and lead to greater political and economic consequences.”
“We deeply regret that the Russian Federation declined to attend,” the State Department said in a statement. “The Memorandum … obliges the U.K., U.S. and Russia to consult in the event of a situation arising where the memorandum commitments are questioned.
“Ukraine voluntarily surrendered the world’s third largest nuclear weapons arsenal in exchange for these assurances. The three governments treat these assurances with utmost seriousness, and expect Russia to as well.”
Kerry is expected to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later Wednesday.
The parties at the meeting called for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, facilitated by the international community, as a way to defuse tensions. Russia says it doesn't recognize Ukraine's interim government, which replaced ousted President Viktor Yanukovych late last month.
“They also agreed that international observers should be deployed immediately in Ukraine, especially in eastern Ukraine and Crimea,” the State Department said. “The three governments reaffirmed the importance of protecting the rights of all Ukrainian citizens and believed that international observers would help address any concerns regarding irregular forces, military activity and the treatment of all Ukrainians irrespective of their ethnicity or spoken language.”
Don’t they know he served in Vietnam?
Neither Kerry nor Obama has anything substantive to contribute to the international debate with respect to the Ukraine. They abdicated that ability with their previous frigging red lines and meddling in Libya, Egypt and Syria, frankly. Patent incompetent amateurs.
They should invite him, then make him sit at the little kids table
That’ll be seared into his memory.
It's a familiar feeling for him.
Don’t they know he married money?
I thought the lib lapdogs have been claiming the Budapest Memo “isn’t a treaty”?
So, if we can claim it as a “treaty” the Russians have broken, why can’t the Ukraine use it as a “treaty” where we are obligated to defend their territory? Maybe nonaggression pacts are just “too 1900’s”?
(Apparently the Russians have wisely decided that any time spent with Lurch is time they can never get back)
I think the 1994 agreement is intimately connected to NATO.
That's Kerry's whole life. He's always the dorky wannabe lingering on the edge of every gathering. You can look at years - decades - of Senate footage and he's always on the outside of every conversation, everyone just ignoring him.
That’s how it is when you’ve lived your whole Senate career as Ted Kennedy’s junior Senator. Sucks to be him.
Ha! And Kerry fought with Slow Joe for the spot!
I love that pic; they sure put him in his place for that one.
Kerry said: “Vlad, baby, how could you do this to me? You promised me that you wouldn’t do this. I am so personally hurt. Can’t be just be friends? Why are you doing this? I’ll have to cry (sniffle).”
How can they do that to a patriot and War hero!!?? /sarc. on both counts
FJF’nK and FBO!
Thanks for the link. This gets increasingly interesting with the pro Russian take over in Donetsk, in the east but an escalation over Crimea.
If it wasn’t for the fact that this will not end will for us, I would be LMAO right now.
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