Posted on 03/06/2014 9:11:03 AM PST by Army Air Corps
Poland is leading a call for tough measures against Russia at a Brussels summit, Thursday, as the Crimean parliament votes for a referendum to leave Ukraine.
Before an emergency summit on the crisis in Ukraine, Prime Minister Donald Tusk had talks with leaders of the Visegrad Group of countries - Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland - on a response to the Ukraine crisis.
Tusk also met with President Hollande of France and the UK's PM David Cameron.
Poland, alongside other member states from the CEE region and UK and Sweden want a tough response with a promise of sanctions against Moscow if it does not pull back forces which have de-facto control of Crimea.
Poland's president Bronislaw Komorowski has called for a "tough and coherent response" by the international community.
They are being opposed by Germany and a majority of the 28 states, which want to emphasize mediation and an immediate start to talks between Russia and Ukraine. "Russia is trying to change post-WWII borders in Europe," Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite said before the start of the talks in Brussels. "We Europeans must understand that this is serious," she said. "Russia today is dangerous and predictable."
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said on the prospect of sanctions against Russia: "We should do everything to give the route of de-escalation a chance. If we come to the conclusion today, in the next 48 or 72 hours that de-escalation is not an option then obviously sanctions are back on the table."
Just as hopes of a de-esculation in the crisis was growing on Thursday, the Crimean parliament ramped up the tension by declaring a referendum on 16 March on whether to leave the state of Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. "My position is that this referendum is unconstitutional," Pavlo Sheremeta, a minister in the interim government in Kiev said, Reuters reports.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine's interim prime minister, accused Russia of increasing tensions and provocations in Crimea. A solution to the crisis "depends on Russia [if] it is ready to fix this conflict [...] or is Russia reluctant and [wants] to increase tension, as they did in the past few hours," Yatsenyuk said after meeting European Parliament head Martin Schulz.
Ping.
What is there to mull?
Europe hasn’t fielded an army fit to challenge a force outside of the third world since before most of the EU population was born.
That sort of removes their options.
Is there time for the herd to mull? Mullll....
Is Poland aware that the Right Sector (the guys with the guns who now hold power in Kiev) want to take part of Poland’s territory for the new Ukraine?
They may want to brush up on that subject.
They mull on the subject of mulling.
This could take weeks or months
Of course. You never rush a good mulling.
They can have a big mug of mulled decider.
Is it organic, gluten free, and locally sourced?
I guess the check cleared the bank or is Hollande delivering it COD?
The Poles are very aware of that.
But - as for today - there are more important things to deal with. Such a subject may wait.
The mullers will be mulling this right up to the time this either becomes a shooting war or the world accepts a partitioned Ukraine.
Let’s mull on ruminating on that...
Indeed. Long term planning, FRiend.
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