Posted on 03/31/2014 10:14:02 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a "partial withdrawal" of troops from the border with Ukraine, the German government has said.
Mr Putin informed Chancellor Angela Merkel of the move in a telephone conversation, according to her office.
Thousands of Russian soldiers are still said to be deployed along the border.
Earlier, Ukraine condemned a visit to Crimea by Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and a delegation of government ministers.
A foreign ministry spokesman in Kiev said the highest-level trip to the Black Sea peninsula by officials from Moscow since its annexation by Russia was a "crude violation" of international rules.
A note protesting against the presence of an official in "the territory of another state without preliminary agreement" had been sent, he added.
Crimeans voted to leave Ukraine for Russia on 16 March, in a referendum condemned as illegal by the UN General Assembly.
Mr Medvedev said he would make Crimea a special economic zone. He also vowed to quickly boost salaries and pensions, and to improve education, healthcare and local infrastructure.
'Calmed down'
Russia's decision to annex Crimea has triggered a crisis in relations with the West.
The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on members of President Vladimir Putin's inner circle and other officials. Russia has retaliated with its own sanctions on US lawmakers.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has told his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, that resolving the crisis depended on Russia pulling back its troops from along Ukraine's border.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Maybe he did but mac daddy was to busy planning his next $600,000,000.00 tax payer vacation.
Shell game. “Not under this one.”
I think Putin is copying the Dems and beating them at their own game:
So something or float an idea. Outrage erupts to the point of “almost” doing something.
Lie about the whole thing. Public calms down.
Make your next move that is even further towards your ultimate goal.
Divide and conquer. The NATO leaders may not like Putin, they may not trust him, but they feel they're better off dealing directly with him rather than rely on Obama. They have no confidence whatsoever in Obama, and no reason to think he has their back.
Now you got it...
Just to prove that he can come and go as he pleases...
Which is why Putin and Lavrov are laughing over drinks in the Kremlin, saying “It can’t be THIS easy!”
What this whole episode really shows is that NATO is finished as an organization. Putin has found that out.
“Putin appears to cut a deal with Merkel, while blowing off 0bama. Merkel empowered, 0bama marginalized, NATO fractured.”
absolutely correct! and right along the lines that Professor Mead suggested at the end of this essay - that Putin would attempt to drive a wedge between USA and european nato countries
http://www.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2014/03/15/putin-the-mask-comes-off-but-will-anybody-care/
Expect an unending stream of praise for The One for stopping WWIII and for making Putin back down.
“Putin would attempt to drive a wedge between USA and european nato countries.”
That had been the Holy Grail of Soviet foreign policy. It took the election of 0bama to finally make it possible.
Think about that.
He'll now play rope a dope by causing potential problems for the EU until EU stops bothering to have the US as a part of the various negotiations to calm down one thing after another.
Once the US and the EU are no longer joined at the hip I bet old Vlad will become the epitome of a reasonable guy. A European among Europeans with the US clearly not a member of the club.
Putin is doing what he wanted to do from day one.
He knew that the West would be satisfied if only he stopped at Crimea. Putin feigns the move into Ukraine proper, the West gets angst, and then he pulls back. There, crisis averted, the West returns to happy talk.
Crimea? What’s this about Crimea?
Yep but Obama will claim credit for making mean ol PutiPut back down eve though he was irrelevent.
And everyone else in the world of international diplomacy will know he’s lying. He has no credibility. People who have no credibility have no allies; everyone will look to cut their own deals.
We’re pretty much on our own.
All this statement means is that, the guys that drove the supply trucks to the border, have now unloaded them, and are returning to their bases to pick up another load.
From what I gather Obama made a deal with Saudi Arabia, if Russia invades, we release strategic oil reserves and Saudi Arabia lowers the price of gas drastically, this would crash the Russian economy (McCain is right on this, Russia is basically a gas station). It seems that Putin took the threat seriously, though he is by no means done. The Saudi end in this is that they will be selling our anti-aircraft weapons to the Jihadist rebels in Syria.
If this is true, then this is the first real Presidential action Obama has done while in office, almost certainly not his idea. Still, one day we will pay for selling advanced weaponry to Islamist cutthroats.
Most of us americans are to ignorant of history to remember the german-soviet nonaggresion pact of 1939. Obama isn’t American, but I’m sure he doesn’t know either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.