Putin Calls Obama, White House Says

NYT ^ | 3-28-2014 | Micheal Shear

[tcrlaf]

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called President Obama on Friday to discuss a proposal by Mr. Obama for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, and the two leaders agreed that diplomats for both countries should meet soon to discuss it, the White House said.

[Mariner]

This was simply courteous notice to Obama that the tanks will roll and they won’t cross NATO borders.

[alstewartfan]

Must have been a wrong number.

[fivecatsandadog]

Putin is probably returning Zero’s call, in which he offered Putin the western half of the US in exchange for a shipping container full of vodka.

[fivecatsandadog]

OMG LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL FOFLMAO LOLOL

[Jim Robinson]

Just watched a CNN report on the Ukrainian’s building their border defenses. You’ve got to be kidding me. Hopefully Putin will take pity on them.

[Iron Munro]

OPIE SINGS TO VLAD

"And now I'd like to dedicate "Piece Of My Heart" to my good friend Vladimir Putin...."

Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on!
Didn't I make you feel like you were the only man - yeah!
An' didn't I give you nearly everything that another man possibly can ?
Vlad, you know I did!
And each time I tell myself that I, well I think I've had enough,
But I'm gonna show you, baby, that Obama can be tough.

I want you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it,
Take it!
Take another little piece of my heart now, Vladie!
Oh, oh, break it!
Break another little bit of my heart now, Vlad, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, oh, have a!
Have another little piece of my heart now, Vladie
You know you got it if it makes you feel good,
Oh, yes indeed.
You know you got it - whoahhhhh!!

[DoughtyOne]

Not sure if you came up with that or not, kudos if you did.

People are so creative. That is great!

[DoughtyOne]

:^)

[CivilWarBrewing]

Putin to Obama: Thanks for the “flexibility”, Barry!

[dragnet2]

The two will probably concoct a scheme to save Obama's weak popularity in exchange for some meaningless token from the Russians, if the U.S. drops all sanctions...Just before the elections.

CNN will and the LA Times will broadcast this token gift as an historical global achievement for Obama....Just before the elections...

[tangchung]

Diplomatic tip for WH: Don’t brag “He called first”

thanks for posting.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Putin to Obama: Your My Bitch
Obama: Why yes, yes I am

[rights with responsibilities]

Agreed....if Obama gains any short term satisfaction it’s because Putin will come back around later and give him a major league weggy !

[rights with responsibilities]

Putin is just sticking his tongue out at Obama...and maybe doing the snoopy happy end zone dance at his expense

[no-to-illegals]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/28/opinion/motyl-ukraine-military-buildup/ ... from approximately one hour ago.

[clintonh8r]

One way or another, 0bamugabi will be played.

[cherokee1]

That’s why I already threw the BS flag on the story. The Kenyan is in or on his way to Soddy Rabia. And I’m not seeing the news in the story anyway-—who calls Odumbo to listen to him snivel about duh-plomacy?

[COUNTrecount]

Is Obama even at the White House?

NO,he’s in Saudi Arabia, maybe he reached out and touched him there.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/28/barack-obama-saudi-arabia-arab-ally

Barack Obama arrives in Saudi Arabia for brief visit with upset Arab ally
Saudi Arabia is aggrieved with the US and the president will use his visit to assure the Kingdom that he is not neglecting them

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Martin Chulov
Martin Chulov
theguardian.com, Friday 28 March 2014 02.59 EDT
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US President Barack Obama waves
The brevity of Barack Obama’s trip to Saudi Arabia reflects the current tensions between the two countries. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Barack Obama arrives in Riyadh on Friday seeking rapprochement with an aggrieved Arab ally whose interests are increasingly at odds with its key western backer.

The US President’s flying visit – no more than an evening in the Saudi king’s palace – is his first since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, which drove an initial wedge between Washington and Riyadh.

Ever since, relations have tangibly soured on every front, with the US outreach to Iran and ambivalence on Syria particularly irking Saudi leaders who believe arch foe Tehran has been empowered at their expense. So bothered has Riyadh become by what it sees as naive appeasement of Iran, that it now seems ready to project itself regionally without US cover.

“The US has underwritten the regional security order for the past 70 years and it sees now as a good time to disengage?,” one senior figure put to the Guardian recently. “We will have to do it all ourselves.”

Saudi anger is rooted in the US response to the Arab Awakenings that rumbled through North Africa and the Middle East in the three years since Mubarak, a staunch regional ally, stood down.

His demise, along with that of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, posed a stark threat to the Kingdom’s strict authoritarian rule, as did the vigorous but short-lived uprising in Bahrain. Riyadh believed Obama should have done much more to bolster Mubarak in particular, along with Bahrain’s Sunni rulers.

Trouble in the bilateral relationship really began when revolution made its way to Syria, a country central to the tussle for regional influence between the Sunni and Shia Islamic power bases. Riyadh enthusiastically threw its support behind the Sunni majority opposition in Syria, while Tehran was just as bullish in its support for the Assad regime, where an Alawite elite has been aligned to Iran’s Shia rulers for the past 40 years.

The three devastating years of war since have seen both heavyweights pour money and weapons into Syria. All the while, Saudi leaders have looked expectantly towards Washington, wanting them to spearhead a military campaign to oust Assad and help install a new regime that looks their way. For two weeks last September, when Obama sent warships to the eastern Mediterranean and threatened to strike Damascus after a mass chemical weapons attack, those hopes seemed about to be realised.

However, the plan was warehoused, shelving any chance of a reset between Riyadh and the Obama White House. Riyadh has spent the six months since fuming at what it sees as a weak-kneed administration that no longer shares its convictions. Negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program reaffirmed a Saudi view that its strategic western partner was no longer dependable.

The anger on Syria has not let up. On Tuesday at an Arab summit in Kuwait, Saudi Crown Prince, Salman Bin Abdulaziz, said the world had “betrayed” the Syrian opposition and that more needed to be done to change the “balance of power” on the ground in Syria.

“We are doing more and we will continue to do more,” the Saudi official told the Guardian. “We are going this alone as difficult as it is for us.”

Riyadh is slowly getting used to projecting its influence regionally, rather than through powerful proxies. It plans to receive Obama politely and to press home its insistence that the region’s other intractable conflict, the Israeli/Palestinian crisis needs substantive Israeli concessions and renewed US pressure.

Ongoing bilateral military ties – Saudi remains one of the largest buyers of US weapons – are also on the table. The visit though will remain perfunctory, reflecting the troubled relationship. Riyadh has given up its earlier hope that the US can bring an end to the war in Syria. While openly threatening to “turn elsewhere” for allies, it is not yet ready to sever strategic ties.

Obama’s main message to his hosts will be that he is not neglecting them. He also aims to back recent Saudi stances against extremists that hold sway in parts of northern Syria and in Iraq’s Anbar province. He is also expected to insist that no other country in the region can replace the US as a security guarantor. That may well prove a tough sell.

[no-to-illegals]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10730661/Ukraine-crisis-the-border-hunt-for-Vladimir-Putins-hidden-army.html ... a different perspective.

[Personal Responsibility]

Putin called Obama? What’d he call him? Cupcake?