Posted on 03/04/2014 11:41:02 AM PST by dennisw
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says Russia is “on the wrong side of history” in Ukraine and its actions violate international law.
Obama told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that the United States is considering economic and diplomatic options that will isolate Russia. The president called on Congress to work on an aid package to Ukraine and make it the “first order of business.”
Obama said continued military actions in Ukraine “will be a costly proposition for Russia.”
Russia called for the adoption of a national unity deal in Ukraine even as it tightened its stranglehold over Crimea, an audacious combination of diplomacy and escalating military pressure. The U.S. and European Union floundered for solutions — while global markets panicked over the prospect of violent upheaval in the heart of Europe.
Then came dramatic claims from Ukraine that Russian troops had issued an ultimatum for two Ukrainian warships to surrender or be seized — prompting Ukraine’s acting president to accuse Russia of “piracy.”
Four Russian navy ships in Sevastopol’s harbour were blocking Ukraine’s corvette Ternopil and the command ship Slavutych, Ukrainian authorities said. Acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said commanders and crew were “ready to defend their ships … They are defending Ukraine.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
my favorite stupid quote from 0Zero
International law? Since when do we follow that?
Putin: “Wrong side of history? Unlike your stupid american sheeple I am not going to pretend I know wtf that means”
I'm embarrassed for him.
‘wrong side of history’ is the newest and dumbest hyperbole today.
Bad as for the children or where is your compassion.
that’s telling him.... fi da
If History is on anyone’s side, it’s on the side of brute force. Can’t anybody read these days?
How can a clown on the ‘wrong side of history’ say some other guy is on the ‘wrong side of history’?
“The wrong side of history” - another trite phrase I wish to see tossed into the trash.
I’ll bet that in private Putin and his buddies call Obama a homo and make racist jokes about him. They know Kerry and his entire State Department are self satisfied idiots
I know witch one I'd choose.
“Why not say RUSSIA WILL NOT BE ALLOWED any BASES IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE”
Because,,,, they might evict us from the airbases they let us use for free, for our big logistics effort to supply our forces in Afghanistan?
Nobody cares what 0bama says.
Either he’s lying or unwilling to back up words with actions.
Therefore, he’s irrelevant.
Surely Obamacare can resolve this issue with an executive order. /sarc
The Americans used pretexts to invade countries that were not a direct threat to them - to get rid of regimes they considered hostile to their interests.
Fair enough. But what is hypocritical about President Obama and Secretary Kerry’s moralizing to Russia about being on the wrong side of history and resorting to force is they’re saying for the record Russia has no right to remove from power a regime in a neighboring country considered inimical to its national interests.
No one issued threats and sanctions against America when it invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. But Russia is condemned for not even doing a fraction of what the Americans did in their foreign adventures. And here the difference is Ukraine is in Russia’s backyard. America concerns are thousands of miles away from the American homeland. Here no one was killed and people are alive. And that is being treated as the international equivalent of a felony offense.
If the Americans want to punish Russia for perceived transgressions of international law, that’s their prerogative. But they have no legal or moral basis to tell Russia not to pursue its national interests in a country to which it is close on historical, spiritual, cultural, political and economic grounds. And Russia will pursue them regardless of admonitions, threats and possible reprisals from the West because this affects the national security, sovereignty and national power of Russia itself.
Russia is fully prepared to pay the price for acting as it sees fit in the post-Soviet space. This is the lesson of Russian history and as the largest country in the world, it is meant to lead it. A great power cannot avert its responsibilities.
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