BALTIMORE, Maryland March 5, 2014 - Russia moved swiftly today to consolidate its hold on Crimea, a hold it is becoming clearer and clearer it does not intend to give up. The Kremlin and strong man Vladimir Putin ordered all Ukrainian Television blocked in the Crimea. The Crimean Parliament voted to cecede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation, with a ratifying referendum scheduled for just ten days from today. Meanwhile, American President Barack Obama sent 300 American Troops and some one dozen F-16 Fighter Jets to Poland, where they arrived today. The elite fighter planes will bolster the Polish defense capabilities and, at the same time, act as a deterrent to any thoughts Putin has of expanding his hegemony over Eastern Europe beyond the Ukraine. The USA has also sent the same type of jets to Lithuania.
Nerves in Poland, already set on edge by the Russian invasion of Crimea, were further frazzled three days ago when Putin said that Western Agents were responsible for seeding the unrest in Kiev that led to the ouster of Pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, and he charged that these agents were trained in Poland and Latvia. The Polish Defense Ministry has vehemently denied this allegation. Putin had not previously charged that "agents" had sparked the demonstrations. In fact, it is extremely doubtful that any provocation was necessary after Yanukovych broke a prior promise to move closer to the EU and instead announced that he was signing a long term agreement with Putin.
The Difficulty of Negotiating with Putin and Russia
USA Secretary of State John Kerry said today in Rome that talks continue with Russia and separate talks with Ukraine, both aimed at getting Russia to withdrawl from Crimea. While Kerry described both sets of talks as "intense," he has been unable to bring the two sides together in the same room because Putin does not recognize the new Ukrainian leaders. That has also led to the reality of sfRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov having to call any new proposal back to Putin, putting discussions on frequent holds. It also gives Putin two chances to confront any Kerry proposal, since Lavrov himself comments and negotiates, then, after Lavrov and Kerry make some kind of agreement Lavrov calls back to Russia to run it by Putin. You can imagine how frustrating all of this is for Kerry. Kerry has certain authority from Obama and doesn't need to speak with him on each individual point or new Russian proposal. But Kerry does have to keep France, Germany, Poland and, perhaps, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia up to date. Publicly, Lavrov has to keep up the fiction that Russia has no extra troops in Crimea. Publicly, Lavrov says that the thousands of soldiers wearing green military fatigues with no identification of country on their uniforms, and, usually, covers over their faces, are not Russian. Here, I won't stoop to that fiction.
At RT TV, which is he Kremlin-controlled television station, a second American-born on-air employee has spoken out on the air against the Russian military intervention in Crimea. Liz Wahl, like Abby Martin before her, spoke out on the air on Wednesday against the Putin move. Wahl resigned at the end of her statement, and was roundly criticized by her superiors. Martin didn't actually resign after she spoke out, but her continued employment would have been problematical at a network where everything is about conveying to viewers that Putin is omnipotent. You can bet the farm that this never happened at the old TASS news agency in Moscow. First, TASS never hired American journalists. Second, TASS did just about everything behind the Iron Curtain, where, had you even thought about trying something like Martin and Wahl did, your next stop would be folding laundry in Siberia.
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