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Showing posts with label pres putin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pres putin. Show all posts

07 March 2014

DAILY KOS SUGGESTED READING / VIEWING

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Moscow Raises Pressure on West in Ukraine Crisis 7MAR14

I saw this as Russian aggression against Ukraine, but after reading and listening to an interview on TRNN (A Struggle Amongst Oligarchs in Ukraine Pt.1 7MAR14
http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-struggle-amongst-oligarchs-in-ukraine.html  ) I have a very different take on the story. Now I see it as the struggle by the common people of Ukraine against the corruption of the oligarchs that were ruling them in cooperation with the oligarchs controlling Russia with putin. putin's Russia and the corporate / bank-financial cabals of the West have escalated this from a national revolution holding out the promise of freedom and democracy to a dangerous geopolitical crisis. 



Play Video
Video|2:39
Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

In Crimea, Speaking out on Referendum

In Yalta and Simferopol, Crimean citizens spoke about the planned referendum on whether to break from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

MOSCOW — Leaders of both houses of Russia’s Parliament said on Friday that they would support a vote by Crimea to break away from Ukraine and become a new region of the Russian Federation, the first public signal that the Kremlin was backing the secessionist move that Ukraine, the United States and other countries have denounced as a violation of international law.
Russia also raised pressure on the financially stressed interim central government in Kiev, which Russia has refused to recognize since the pro-Kremlin former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, fled last month. Gazprom, the Russian energy company that supplies Ukraine with gas, warned it might shut off exports unless Ukraine paid $1.89 billion that it owes. “We cannot deliver gas for free,” Russia news agencies quoted Gazprom’s chief executive Alexei Miller as saying.


Gazprom cut gas to Ukraine for nearly two weeks in January 2009, causing severe economic problems for Ukraine and European customers who depend on Gazprom supplies delivered via Ukraine pipelines.


Play Video
Video|2:10
Gabriella Demczuk/The New York Times

Obama Delivers Statement on Ukraine

President Obama said, “Any discussion about the future of Ukraine must include the legitimate government of Ukraine.”

Valentina I. Matviyenko, the chairwoman of the upper house, the Federation Council, compared the Crimea secession vote to a scheduled referendum in Scotland on whether to become independent from Britain, omitting the fact that London has agreed to the ballot. Ukraine’s new interim leaders have fiercely opposed splintering the country.
The speaker of the lower house, Sergei Y. Naryshkin, echoed Ms. Matviyenko’s remarks.
“We will respect the historic choice of the people of Crimea,” he said.
The remarks by the leaders, both close political allies of President Vladimir V. Putin, came a day after Crimea’s regional assembly voted behind closed doors to secede from Ukraine and to hold a referendum on March 16 for voters in the region to ratify the decision. On Friday a delegation of lawmakers from Crimea arrived in Moscow to lay the groundwork for joining Russia, winning strong endorsements from senior lawmakers.
“We admire your fortitude and courage,” Ms. Matviyenko told them, according to Interfax news agency. “Many threats have been made against you; there were threats of attacks, in particular, against the Black Sea Fleet, but you endured that and protected your people.”
In another telling sign of official Russian support for the Crimean referendum, delegation representatives were cheered at a “We are together” rally organized in central Moscow that was shown at length on state television, with songs and chants of “Russia, Moscow, Crimea.” News agencies quoted the police as saying the rally was attended 60,000 people.
The developments underscored how quickly the crisis was evolving. Only three days earlier, Mr. Putin said he did not foresee the possibility of Crimea becoming part of Russia, though he cited the independence of Kosovo as a precedent. “We will in no way provoke any such decision and will not breed such sentiments,” he said.
The Kremlin has not yet directly addressed the possibility of Crimea’s secession. Even if the referendum proceeds as planned and Crimea residents approve, it remains unclear what would happen next.
The move to break away from Ukraine was swiftly denounced by the fledgling national government in Kiev, which said it would invalidate the decision and dissolve the Crimean Parliament, and by President Obama in Washington, where the United States government on Thursday announced sanctions in response to Russia’s military occupation of the Crimean Peninsula.
“Any discussion about the future of Ukraine must include the legitimate government of Ukraine,” Mr. Obama said at the White House. “In 2014, we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders.”
Hours after the United States announced the first punitive actions against specific Russians, Mr. Obama contacted Mr. Putin. The two leaders spoke for an hour by telephone and, according to the White House, Mr. Obama urged Mr. Putin to authorize direct talks with Ukraine’s new, pro-Western government, permit the entry of international monitors and return his forces to the bases that Russia leases in Crimea.
Early Friday, the Kremlin released a statement offering a starkly different account of the phone call, and emphasizing Russia’s view that the new government in Kiev is illegitimate.


“In the course of the discussion there emerged differences in approaches and assessments of the causes which brought about the current crisis and the resulting state of affairs,” the statement said. “Vladimir Putin, for his part, noted that this had occurred as a result of an anti-constitutional coup, which does not have a national mandate.”
The Kremlin went on to say that the current Ukrainian leadership had imposed “absolutely illegitimate decisions” on the eastern and southeastern regions of the country. “Russia cannot ignore appeals connected to this, calls for help, and acts appropriately, in accordance with international law,” the statement said.
Mr. Putin, the statement said, appreciated the importance of the Russian-American relationship to global security, and added that bilateral ties “should not be sacrificed for individual — albeit rather important — international problems.”
In Kiev, the leader of the Right Sector movement, Dmytro Yarosh, will run for president of Ukraine, the chairman of the local branch of the movement, Andriy Tarasenko, said on Friday. The nationalist group, which was important in the fight for Kiev’s Independence Square, will rename itself at a congress in a week and participate in elections at all levels, Mr. Tarasenko said.
Right Sector has been controversial for its semi-military organization, but it has also refrained from working in eastern Ukraine, where its presence could be seen as a provocation by Russia. But Mr. Tarasenko said that the group was prepared to fight, in Crimea and elsewhere, “if the Kremlin tramples on us further.” He added, “Accordingly, we are conducting mobilization and are preparing to repel foreign aggression.”
Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, the interim prime minister of Ukraine, said on Friday that he had requested a second telephone conversation with the Russian prime minister, Dmitri A. Medvedev. The two men last spoke on Saturday, which was the only high-level contact between Moscow and the new authorities in Kiev.
Ukraine is ready for talks with Russia, Mr. Yatsenyuk said, but Moscow must first withdraw its troops, abide by international agreements and halt its support for “separatists and terrorists in Crimea.” He repeated Ukraine’s position that a referendum in Crimea is both illegal and unconstitutional. “No one in the civilized world will recognize the results of a so-called referendum carried out by these so-called authorities,” Mr. Yatsenyuk said.
With Washington and Moscow trading angry accusations of hypocrisy on the issue of respecting state sovereignty, validating Crimea’s secession would carry pointed political risks for Mr. Putin, given longstanding demands for independence from Russia by its own similarly autonomous republics in the Caucasus, including Dagestan and Chechnya.
Michael A. McFaul, the former American ambassador to Russia, noted the parallel in a sharp post on Twitter. “If Russian government endorses Crimean referendum,” Mr. McFaul wrote, using abbreviations needed for a 140-character limit, “will they also allow/endorse similar votes in republics in the Russian Federation?”
The West, which has insisted that the Ukrainian people are entitled to decide their future without interference from Russia, faces similar challenges as it seeks to explain why the people of Crimea should not necessarily decide their own fate.
The United States and its European allies typically support self-determination but have opposed independence for regions in their own borders, like Scotland from Britain or Catalonia from Spain.
There was no sign on Friday that Russian armed forces were relaxing their tight clench on the Crimean peninsula, with military bases surrounded and border crossings under strict control. For the second consecutive day, an observer mission from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the 57-member organization that includes both Ukraine and Russia, was prevented from entering Crimea at a checkpoint blocked by armed men.


Pro-Russia protesters got off a police bus in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, on Thursday and were greeted by supporters, who had forced the police to release them. Uriel Sinai for The New York Times

On Thursday, international diplomats raced from meeting to meeting in an effort to end the standoff. European leaders signaled they might join American sanctions and Moscow threatened countermeasures as an already tense situation was made edgier by the start of new Russian military drills.
European Union leaders issued a statement in Brussels calling an annexation referendum “contrary to the Ukrainian Constitution and therefore illegal.”
In Kiev, the acting president of Ukraine, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, said Thursday that the national government would invalidate the decision to hold the referendum and would dissolve the Crimean Parliament. Crimea, part of Ukraine since 1954, has enjoyed substantial autonomy since shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the region’s Constitution generally defers to the national Ukrainian Constitution on jurisdictional matters.
Mr. Turchynov scoffed at the plan for a referendum, noting that Russian forces had taken control of Crimea’s borders and ports and were blocking Ukrainian military bases and occupying other security installations. “This will be a farce,” he said in a televised address. “This will be false. This will be a crime against the state.” He insisted that Ukraine would “protect the sanctity of our territory.”
Officials in Kiev had already declared the Crimean Parliament to be acting illegally, and a court issued an arrest warrant for Sergei Aksyonov, the leader of the breakaway effort, who was installed as prime minister of Crimea after armed men seized the Parliament building last week.
Leaders of the peninsula’s large Crimean Tatar minority also denounced the move. “Today’s decision by the Parliament is completely illegal,” said Refat Chubarov, the leader of the main Tatar organization and a member of Parliament. He refused to take part in the parliamentary voting on Thursday because he said it was illegitimate.
“More troubling for us is that this decision could provoke and lead to further escalation of tensions,” Mr. Chubarov said in an interview. “A referendum under the conditions of the presence of foreign troops on the streets is called something entirely different in world practice — it’s a coup. It’s the seizure of territory.”
The sanctions Mr. Obama approved Thursday imposed visa bans on officials and other individuals deemed responsible for undermining Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. The administration would not disclose the names or number of people penalized, but a senior official said privately that it would affect just under a dozen people, mostly Russians but some of them Ukrainian.
Among those targeted were political figures, policy advisers, security officials and military officers who played a direct role in the Crimean crisis, the official said. Any of them seeking to travel to the United States would be barred, and a few who currently hold American visas will have them revoked.
Mr. Obama also signed an executive order laying out a framework for tougher measures like freezing the assets of individuals and institutions. But the White House refrained from applying those measures while officials gathered evidence in the hope that waiting would provide some space for Russia to reverse course. The House, in the meantime, approved an economic aid package for the Kiev government and advanced its own sanctions resolution.
Moscow, however, gave no indication that it would back down, suggesting that it would reciprocate with measures seizing American property in Russia. “The U.S. has the right, and we have the right to respond to it,” Vladimir Lukin, a Russian envoy who has worked on the Ukrainian crisis, told Interfax, a Russian news agency. “But all that is, of course, not making me happy.”
The European Union took a step toward more serious measures by suspending talks with Moscow on a wide-ranging political-economic pact and on liberalizing visa requirements to make it easier for Russians to travel to Europe. European leaders laid out a three-stage process that, absent progress, would next move to travel bans, asset seizures and the cancellation of a planned European Union-Russia summit meeting and eventually to broader economic measures.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who has been reluctant to move quickly toward sanctions, said the European Union was looking for concrete evidence that Russia was trying to calm the situation “in the next few days,” but she noted that Thursday’s events in Crimea made the need for action more urgent.
“We made it very clear that we are absolutely willing to achieve matters by negotiation,” she said. “We also say, however, that we are ready and willing, if these hopes were to be dashed and looking at what happened on Crimea, to adopt sanctions.”

Steven Lee Myers reported from Moscow, David M. Herszenhorn from Simferopol, Ukraine, and Alan Cowell from London. Reporting was contributed by Ellen Barry from Moscow;  Michael R. Gordon from Rome; Alissa J. Rubin from Brussels;  Peter Baker and Eric Schmitt from Washington;  Steven Erlanger from Kiev, Ukraine; Rick Gladstone from New York; Patrick Reevell from Sevastopol, Ukraine; Andrew Roth from Donetsk, Ukraine; Somini Sengupta from the United Nations; and Noah Sneider from Simferopol.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/world/europe/ukraine.html?hp&_r=0 
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06 March 2014

HUFFPOST LIVE BLOG UKRAINE http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rss/liveblog/liveblog-2740.xml 5-6MAR14

THE situation in Ukraine and Ukrainian Crimea remain volatile due to putin's blatant aggression in Ukrainian Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Here is the latest on the HuffPost live feed, click the link for updates.....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rss/liveblog/liveblog-2740.xml 



Crimea Referendum Vote On Joining Russia Scheduled For March 16

 | by  TIM SULLIVAN and YURAS KARMANAU
Posted: Updated:
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Lawmakers in Crimea called a March 16 referendum on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia instead, voting unanimously Thursday to declare their preference for doing so.
"This is our response to the disorder and lawlessness in Kiev," Sergei Shuvainikov, a member of the local Crimean legislature, said. "We will decide our future ourselves."
The 100-seat parliament in Crimea, which enjoys a degree of autonomy under current Ukrainian law, voted 78-0, with eight abstentions in favor of holding the referendum, and for joining Russia. Local voters will also be given the choice of deciding to remain part of Ukraine, but with enhanced local powers.
There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian central government to the vote. On Wednesday, Ukraine's prime minister told The Associated Press that Crimea would remain part of Ukraine.
In Moscow, a prominent member of Russia's parliament, Sergei Mironov, said he has introduced a bill to simplify the procedure for Crimea to join Russia and it could be passed as soon as next week, the state news agency ITAR-Tass reported.
On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia had no intention of annexing Crimea, while insisting its residents have the right to determine the region's status in a referendum. Putin called a meeting of his Security Council on Thursday to discuss Ukraine.
A referendum had previously been scheduled in Crimea on March 30, but the question to be put to voters was on whether their region should enjoy "state autonomy" within Ukraine.
Earlier, Crimea's new leader said pro-Russian forces numbering more than 11,000 now control all access to the peninsula in the Black Sea and have blockaded all military bases that have not yet surrendered.
The West has joined the new Ukrainian leadership in Kiev in demanding that Russia pull its forces back from Crimea, but little progress was reported after a flurry of diplomatic activity in Paris on Wednesday involving U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
European Union leaders will meet for an emergency session in Brussels on Thursday to decide what sort of sanctions they can impose on Russia over its actions in Ukraine. Moscow has threatened to retaliate if any punitive measures are put in place.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, in Brussels for the summit, said Russia was continuing to stir up trouble.
"We ask Russia to respond whether they are ready to preserves peace and stability in Europe or (whether) they are ready to instigate another provocation and another tension in our bilateral and multilateral relations," Yatsenyuk said.
In Simferopol, Crimea's capital, about 50 people rallied outside the local parliament Thursday morning waving Russian and Crimean flags. Among the posters they held was one that said "Russia, defend us from genocide."
"We are tired of revolutions, maidans and conflicts and we want to live peacefully in Russia," said one of the bystanders, Igor Urbansky, 35. "Only Russia can give us a peaceful life."
Maidan is the name of the downtown square in Kiev where tens of thousands of protesters contested the rule of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia.
Not all in this city favored the lawmakers' action.
"This is crazy. Crimea has become Putin's puppet," said Viktor Gordiyenko, 46. "A referendum at gunpoint of Russia weapons is just a decoration for Putin's show. A decision on occupation has already been made."
Svetlana Savchenko, another Crimean lawmaker, said the choice she and her fellow deputies took in favor of joining Russia will force Moscow to make a decision.
"This is our principled position," she told The Associated Press. "Now the Russian Federation must begin a procedure - will it take us in or not."
Under the Soviet Union, Crimea belonged to the Russian Federation until it was transferred to Ukraine in 1954 by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
Concern that the turmoil could engulf eastern Ukraine grew after hundreds of demonstrators — many chanting "Russia! Russia!" — stormed a government building on Wednesday in Donetsk, a major industrial center near the Russian border.
Clashes between protesters and police broke out early Thursday in Donetsk as police cleared demonstrators from the regional administration center. The Ukrainian flag once again was hoisted over the building, and about 100 Ukrainian Interior troops could be seen in and around it. Two large trucks were parked in front to block the approach.
The European Union on Wednesday extended $15 billion in aid to help support the new Ukrainian government, which took over in late February after months of protests drove out Yanukovych, the Moscow-supported president.
The EU also imposed asset freezes against 18 people held responsible for embezzling state funds in Ukraine, including Yanukovych, his son and some of his closest allies.
Crimea's new leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said his government was in regular contact with the Russian officials, including those in a large Russian delegation now in Crimea.
Speaking at Crimea's government meeting late Wednesday, Aksyonov said the strategic peninsula is fully under the control of riot police and security forces joined by about 11,000 "self-defense" troops. All or most of these troops are believed to be Russian, even though the Russian president and defense minister have denied sending in the military other than those stationed at the home port of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
___
Sergei Chuzavkov contributed from Donetsk, and Juergen Baetz from Brussels.

 

live blog

10:11 AM – Today
BBC: Pro-Russian Protests Leader Arrested
greg white @whitegl
RT @BBCBreaking Pro-Russia protest leader in east city Donetsk arrested as he was being interviewed by BBC http://bbc.in/MQyous 
10:10 AM – Today
PHOTO: FEMEN Detained By Cossacks In Crimea
ukraine Cossacks detain a "Femen" activist during protest in front of the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol, Ukraine, March 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
9:52 AM – Today
RT Anchor Explains Decision To Quit On Air
Liz Wahl, the RT anchor who quit on-air over the Russian government's incursion into Crimea, explained in an email to HuffPost why she quit and why she started working for the pro-Kremlin English-language channel to begin with.
"I'm resigning due to the network's stance in general," she said. "A network that has an editorial mission to slam the West and promote Russian foreign policy. The coverage of Crimea is the latest and one of the more extreme examples."
"When I started, I knew where Putin stood geopolitically, but did not know that his views would be imposed on the news operation."
--Luke Johnson
9:27 AM – Today
Visa Bans Have Already Begun For Russians And Ukrainians
On a conference call with reporters this morning, the White House did not offer many specifics about sanctions and visa restrictions for those connected to the Ukraine violence. However, a senior administration official clarified that they would include Russian and Ukrainian citizens, while indicating that the bans had already begun.
"There are individuals who have had their visas pulled or will be banned from visas," said a senior administration official. "And those individuals -- while I won't give names or numbers -- this does include Russians and Ukrainians."
--Luke Johnson
9:21 AM – Today
White House Reacts To Crimean Referendum
The White House suggested on Thursday that the Crimean Parliament's vote on a referendum for the region to join Russia was illegitimate.
"It is the voice of the United States that decisions about Crimea or any part of Ukraine need to be made with the government in Kiev," said a senior administration official on a conference call with reporters. "This is a country with clearly defined international borders and only the people of Ukraine can make decisions about their political future."
"You can't have a situation in which the legitimate government of the country is excluded from decision-making about different parts of that country," added the official. "That is clearly a violation of international law and how these things are done."
"We will continue to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine as a whole," he also said.
--Luke Johnson
9:17 AM – Today
Lavrov: U.S. Sanctions Are Not Constructive
Breaking News        ✔ @BreakingNews
Russian foreign minister Lavrov says US sanctions against Russia continue to add pressure, are not constructive - @Reuters
 
9:11 AM – Today
Assad Praises Putin
Unsurprisingly, embattled Syrian President Bashar expressed his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin in the crisis with Ukraine, Agence France Press reports on Thursday.
From AFP:
In a telegram, Assad "expressed... Syria's solidarity with Putin's efforts to restore security and stability to Ukraine in the face of attempted coups against legitimacy and democracy in favour of radical terrorists", state news agency SANA said.
Assad praised Putin for "wise political leadership and commitment to international legitimacy based on the law that governs ties between nations and peoples".
He said Syria was committed to "President Putin's rational, peace-loving approach that seeks to establish a global system supporting stability and fighting extremism and terrorism".
--Eline Gordts
9:06 AM – Today
Kerry Meets Lavrov In Rome
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a second day in a row on Thursday to discuss the situation in Ukraine. This time, the leaders conveyed on the sidelines of a Rome conference on Libya.
Read more from Reuters here.
9:02 AM – Today
OSCE Observers Barred From Entering Crimea
Unidentified, armed men barred observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from entering Crimea, Poland's defense minister told Reuters on Thursday.
"The mission has been detained, they cannot go further. They landed in Odessa and they were traveling by car from Odessa towards the Crimean Peninsula, but they were detained by unidentified men in fatigues," the defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, told reporters.
He said it was possible the observers would be allowed to head back the way they came, but they could not go forward into Crimea. Two Polish military officers are among the OSCE mission.
--Eline Gordts
8:58 AM – Today
Ukrainian PM: Crimea 'So-Called Referendum' Has No Legal Grounds
Teri Schultz @terischultz
Ukrainian PM says "so-called referendum has no legal grounds at all", urges not to support
8:29 AM – Today
PHOTO: Ukrainian Frigate Returns From NATO Exercises
ukraine
Ukraine frigate Hetman Sahaydachy, background, enters waters of the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine, Thursday, March 6, 2014. The Hetman Sahaydachny on Wednesday returned to Odessa in the Black Sea after taking part in NATO exercises. (AP Photo/Sergei Poliakov)
8:20 AM – Today
What Putin Really Wants
According to an op-ed by Ruslan Pukhov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's end goal in the Crimea standoff isn't actually annexing the pro-Russian region. But rather, the Russian leader's goal is simply to "obtain the greatest possible autonomy for Crimea while still retaining formal Ukrainian jurisdiction over the peninsula."
This flies in the face of what appeared to be a move by Russia to take over the embattled peninsula. Instead, Putin's power play served as a means to "strong-arm the new, weak and unstable government in Kiev" in order to maintain influence over Ukrainian politics.
"Mr. Putin is a more farsighted and coldblooded calculator," Pukhov argues.
Read the entire article on The New York Times.
-- Ryan Craggs
8:01 AM – Today
White House Statement On Ukraine
Below is the full text of the White House statement on the visa restrictions and sanctions placed on individuals contributing to the crisis in Ukraine:
As President Obama has made clear, the United States is pursuing and reviewing a wide range of options in response to Russia’s ongoing violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity – actions that constitute a threat to peace and security and a breach of international law, including Russia’s obligations under the UN Charter and of its 1997 military basing agreement with Ukraine, and that are inconsistent with the 1994 Budapest Memorandum and the Helsinki Final Act. Pursuant to the President’s guidance, today the State Department is putting in place visa restrictions on a number of officials and individuals, reflecting a policy decision to deny visas to those responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. This new step stands in addition to the policy already implemented to deny visas to those involved in human rights abuses related to political oppression in Ukraine. In addition, the President has signed an Executive Order that authorizes sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for activities undermining democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine; threatening the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine; contributing to the misappropriation of state assets of Ukraine; or purporting to assert governmental authority over any part of Ukraine without authorization from the Ukrainian government in Kyiv. This E.O. is a flexible tool that will allow us to sanction those who are most directly involved in destabilizing Ukraine, including the military intervention in Crimea, and does not preclude further steps should the situation deteriorate. These actions build upon the previous actions the United States has taken, including suspending bilateral discussions with Russia on trade and investment; suspending other bilateral meetings on a case-by-case basis; putting on hold U.S.-Russia military-to-military engagement, including exercises, bilateral meetings, port visits, and planning conferences; and our agreement with G-7 nations to suspend for the time being our participation in activities associated with the preparation of the scheduled G-8 Summit in Sochi in June. Depending on how the situation develops, the United States is prepared to consider additional steps and sanctions as necessary. At the same time, as the President has said, we seek to work with all parties to achieve a diplomatic solution that de-escalates the situation and restores Ukraine’s sovereignty. We call on Russia to take the opportunity before it to resolve this crisis through direct and immediate dialogue with the Government of Ukraine, the immediate pull-back of Russia’s military forces to their bases, the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and support for the urgent deployment of international observers and human rights monitors who can assure that the rights of all Ukrainians are protected, including ethnic Russians, and who can support the Ukrainian government’s efforts to hold a free and fair election on May 25. As we follow developments in Ukraine closely, the United States reaffirms its unwavering commitment to our collective defense commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty. We will continue to pursue measures that reinforce those commitments, to include the provision of additional support to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission and our aviation detachment in Poland.
7:46 AM – Today
Full Text Of Obama's Executive Order

7:43 AM – Today
Obama Reportedly Designates Situation In Ukraine 'Extraordinary Threat' To National Security
  Zeke Miller        ✔ @ZekeJMiller
FWIW, Obama has just designated the Ukraine crisis "an unusual & extraordinary threat to the national security & foreign policy of the US"
7:40 AM – Today
U.S. Imposes Sanctions, Visa Restrictions On People 'Contributing To The Situation In Ukraine'
Breaking Politics         ✔ @breakingpol
Obama signs executive order 'blocking property of certain persons contributing to the situation in Ukraine' - @ZekeJMiller, @jbendery
  The Associated Press        ✔ @AP
BREAKING: US imposes visa restrictions on Russians, Crimeans it says are threatening Ukraine security.
7:12 AM – Today
FEMEN In Crimea
FEMEN, the radical feminist group that tried to stage a topless protest against Putin, is apparently in Crimea.
From their earlier protest:
inna shevchenko @femeninna
Femen staffed protest in Crimea against Putin's occupation. We are back
Published on Apr 8, 2013
Topless activists from the Femen protest group tried to disrupt the visit of Russian President Putin and Chancellor Merkel to the Hannover Messe tech show. They had anti-Putin slogans on their semi-naked bodies and were shouting obscenities. http://youtu.be/ERSGZO2GKHo
6:56 AM – Today
Crimean Parliament Already Starting The Process To Join Russia
Even though a referendum will not be held for another ten days, Crimea's parliament has already asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to "to start the procedure" on joining the Russian Federation. It's not clear what that procedure is, since no new territory has joined Russia since the Russian Federation came into existence. Nevertheless, it indicates how the parliament is already prejudging the outcome of such a vote.
-- Luke Johnson
6:37 AM – Today
Russian Lawmakers Smooth The Way For Crimea Referendum
Just as Crimea's Parliament announced Thursday it would hold a referendum on joining Russia on March 16, Russia's parliament made sure that it could take place.
The Russian Duma will likely vote on a bill next week to allow provinces outside the Russian Federation to join Russia through local referendum. The vote will likely take place on March 14. "As we are talking about federal constitutional law, it's not worth rushing, the bill must be taken quickly, but not quickly," Dimitry Govortsov, one of the bill's authors, told Interfax. Bills from the Duma rarely, if ever, fail.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the vote, his spokesman, Dimitry Peskov, told Channel One.
-- Luke Johnson
6:22 AM – Today
Putin's Approval Ratings Soaring, Says Kremlin-Friendly Pollster That Released Off-Message Poll
VTsIOM, Russia's state-owned pollster, released a poll Thursday showing Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating at almost 68 percent. 53 percent of respondents said the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea had an effect on their answer. The poll is similar to one in late February and the highest since his May 2012 rating had him at 68.8 percent.
The same pollster released a poll on February 24 -- but conducted at beginning of the month -- showing that 73 percent of Russians did not favor intervening in Ukraine's political crisis. Russia, obviously, went on to do so. The poll did not fit the narrative -- bolstered by state television -- of Russians cheering military action in the streets.
-- Luke Johnson

Around the Web

Crimean autonomy referendum, 2014 - Wikipedia, the free ...
Conflict fears rise after pro-Russian gunmen seize Crimean parliament
Thoughts on the crisis in Ukraine (updated with some new ...
Crimean autonomy: A viable alternative to war? - Washington Post
Should we leave Crimea to the Russians? | The World
Globe in Ukraine: Crimea's parliament calls for referendum on future ...
Crimean Premier Says Ukrainian Military Units Have Started to ...
What is going to happen to Ukraine's Crimea? - English pravda.ru
Ukraine crisis: EU and UN hold emergency talks over Russia in Crimea – live
Crimean Lawmaker: Referendum on Whether Crimea Becomes Part of Russia to ...
Russian Central Elections Commission officials may go to Crimean referendum ...
Loyal to Ukraine, Tatars lie low as Russia seizes Crimea
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/06/crimea-referendum-russia_n_4910096.html#318_bbc-prorussian-protests-leader-arrested 
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08 August 2013

Obama Cancels One-On-One Meeting With Putin & The sneaky switch that set the stage for the NSA’s call records program 7AUG13

PATHETIC! Pres Obama isn't going to meet with pres putin in Russia because Edward Snowden has been granted temporary asylum by the Russian government (something all patriotic Americans are extremely grateful for). Yet he recently hosted the leader of Vietnam, a country that is committing gross human rights violations daily, at the White House. Just another example of the hypocrisy of the Obama administration's foreign policy and what a disappointment he, and his administration, has become. It is actually embarrassing, considering the U.S. government has been spying on not only it's own people but on our allies and friendly countries. Now Pres Obama is acting like a child, mad because he has been caught doing something wrong and scrambling to blame someone else for his behavior. I am no fan of putin, I think he is a dangerous, unstable and unreliable man. He can not be considered a friend or ally of the U.S. All the more reason for Pres Obama to meet with him. From NPR, followed by more information from ARS Technica on how pres george w bush, Pres Obama and too many congressmen/women have been violating American law, our Constitution, our civil liberties....

Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Obama when they sat down together in June at a G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Obama when they sat down together in June at a G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
Alexi Nikolsky /EPA /LANDOV
President Obama has canceled a one-on-one September summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the White House says.
It's the most dramatic effect so far on U.S.-Russian relations in the wake of Russia's decision to grant "NSA leaker" temporary asylum while he tries to get safe haven in some third country.
Word of the decision not to meet with Putin was first reported by The Associated Press earlier Wednesday morning. The White House then confirmed the news in statements sent to NPR and other news outlets.
Obama is still set to attend the in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sept. 5 and 6 — which Putin will host. The meeting that's being canceled was to have been between Obama and Putin in Moscow while the president is in Russia.
As and others have reported, and as the president said Tuesday , the U.S. is disappointed in Russia's decision to give Snowden temporary asylum. Snowden, a former contractor for companies that do business with the National Security Agency, earlier this summer .
Update at 9:35 a.m. ET. White House Says Decision Came After "Careful Review."
This statement was just emailed to reporters from the White House press office:
"Following a careful review begun in July, we have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a U.S.-Russia Summit in early September. We value the achievements made with Russia in the president's first term, including the New START Treaty, and cooperation on Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea.
"However, given our lack of progress on issues such as missile defense and arms control, trade and commercial relations, global security issues, and human rights and civil society in the last twelve months, we have informed the Russian government that we believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda.
"Russia's disappointing decision to grant Edward Snowden temporary asylum was also a factor that we considered in assessing the current state of our bilateral relationship.
"Our cooperation on these issues remains a priority for the United States, so on Friday, Aug. 9, Secretaries Hagel and Kerry will meet with their Russian counterparts in a 2+2 format in Washington to discuss how we can best make progress moving forward on the full range of issues in our bilateral relationship.
"The president still looks forward to traveling to St. Petersburg on September 5-6 to attend the G-20 Summit."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/07/209801359/obama-cancels-one-on-one-meeting-with-putin?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=BreakingNews&utm_campaign=

The sneaky switch that set the stage for the NSA’s call records program

The wording of Section 215 of the Patriot Act was modified at the last minute in 2005.

by - Aug 4 2013, 3:00pm EST

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Defenders of the National Security Agency’s controversial call records program, which vacuums up Americans’ phone logs in bulk, like to remind us that the Patriot Act power to collect “business records” has been ratified by large majorities in Congress. Yet a compromise sharply limiting that authority, strongly endorsed by then-Senator Barack Obama, was unanimously approved by the Senate way back in 2005—until a sneaky last-minute change turned the limits on their head.
Passed in haste mere weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, several provisions of the Patriot Act—including Section 215, which allows the government to obtain business records with an order from a secret court—included built-in expiration dates. When the time came to reauthorize those provisions in the summer of 2005, a bipartisan group of legislators—including Dick Durbin, Larry Craig, John Sununu, and Lisa Murkowski—hammered out a compromise aimed at ensuring that Section 215 could only be used for records that had some concrete connection to a suspected spy or terrorist.
Under the proposed language, the government could obtain an order for business records from the classified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court provided the records were “relevant to an authorized investigation” and fell into one of three categories: the records would have to pertain either to a suspected “agent of a foreign power,” someone in direct contact with the suspect, or the “activities” of a suspect. This language would have allowed the government to look at associates “one hop” away from the target of an investigation—to distinguish innocent acquaintances from potential co-conspirators—as opposed to the two or three hops we now know the NSA routinely pursues. The “activities” category, meanwhile, would have allowed the FBI to follow-up leads about plots—such as a tip that Al Qaeda agents in a particular area were trying to buy explosive chemicals—without necessarily knowing who the individual plotters were.
This change would have been less restrictive than an amendment sponsored by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), which recently failed to pass the House of Representatives by the narrowest of margins, and which would have allowed Section 215 to be used only for the records of the “subject” of the investigation. Yet it would also clearly rule out the indiscriminate bulk collection of records—which the NSA would begin doing under Section 215 in 2006. The reform sailed through the Republican-controlled Senate on a unanimous consent vote in July 2005.
In November, however, supporters of the new safeguards received a rude surprise: The conference committee tasked with reconciling the House and Senate versions of the Patriot reauthorization had made a subtle change that actually expanded the scope of Section 215—a change staffers familiar with the reauthorization believe was made at the behest of the White House. The compromise language had specified that the government could get records that were both relevant and fell into one of those three categories linking them to a terror suspect. The new language not only did away with the limitation—any records that met the low standard of “relevance” were fair game—it said that all records in those three categories were “presumptively” relevant. This change would also have sent a subtle signal to the court under normal principles of legal interpretation: If these three categories were automatically relevant, then by implication, even records that didn’t fit into any of those categories had to be potentially “relevant” also—just not automatically.
When the legislators who had hammered out the compromise objected, Sen. Arlen Specter, then the chair of the Judiciary Committee, sought to reassure them that Section 215 would only very rarely be used so broadly:
The relevance standard will apply only in extraordinary circumstances because the Conference Report channels all applications for Section 215 orders into the three categories delineated in the Senate bill. By providing a presumption of relevance when the government can demonstrate a connection to a suspected terrorist or spy, the bill ensures that requests falling outside the three categories will be the exception and not the rule. Indeed, the presumption ensures that law enforcement will face an uphill battle in any effort to obtain a 215 order that does not fall into one of the three categories and thereby provides an incentive for the FBI to use the tool only when it can show a connection to a suspected terrorist or spy.
Many legislators were unconvinced—including the freshman senator from Illinois, a promising young politician named Barack Obama. In a bipartisan follow-up letter, Obama and eight of his colleagues complained that the late changes meant that “the Senate is being asked to reauthorize the Patriot Act without adequate opportunity for debate.” They also rejected Specter’s assurances that the broad relevance standard, unrestricted to specific categories, would be used only in “limited, extraordinary circumstances.” Their original compromise, they wrote, imposed upon the government “a very low burden to meet, but one that will protect innocent Americans from unnecessary surveillance and ensure that government scrutiny is based on individualized suspicion, a fundamental principle of our legal system."
They were obviously right to be concerned. Within a year, as we now know, the NSA began using Section 215 to routinely collect the phone records of all Americans. Far from being rare or extraordinary, a recently declassified summary of the program acknowledges that this bulk collection was actually the “largest and most significant” use of the Section 215 authority.
By the time the Patriot Act next came up for reauthorization in 2009, the NSA program was in full swing—but even those legislators who knew about it couldn’t debate it publicly. Under pressure from the new administration, then, the same reform that the Senate had unanimously approved four years earlier died without any real discussion. “The real reason for resisting this obvious common-sense modification of Section 215 is cloaked in secrecy,” Sen. Dick Durbin complained at the time. “Someday the cloak will be lifted, and future generations will ask whether our actions today meet the test of a democratic society—transparency, accountability, and fidelity to the rule of law and our Constitution.”
Now that the cloak has been lifted, that’s precisely the question a lot of Americans are asking.
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 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/the-sneaky-switch-that-set-the-stage-for-the-nsas-call-records-program/
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