There are numerous alarming, the sky-is-falling reports on the Ukraine crisis and even more harrowing reports from and by the Right on what an unmitigated disaster the crisis is, on the abysmal manner the president is dealing with it and on how it is the ultimate result of Obama’s “feckless foreign policy,” of the Benghazi Consulate attack, of the unenforced “red line” in Syria, of Hillary’s “reset button,” of Obama “declaring ‘happy hour’ with Dems minutes after Ukraine tough talk” and of Obama wearing “mom jeans.”
Perhaps the least credible — most laughable — pronouncement has come from the former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin (the “mom jeans” author), who could see from her front porch that Russia would invade Ukraine and who blames the invasion on the then-Senator Obama’s “indecision and moral equivalence” response when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 — “the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.”
Just like foreign policy expert, Charles Krauthammer, Ms. Palin forgets — or leaves out — one small detail.
She forgets that, when the Russians blatantly invaded Georgia in 2008, George W. Bush was the president of the United States, not Barack Obama. Palin forgets that it was Bush who didn’t see the invasion coming from his front porch, that it was Bush who allowed the invasion to take place and that it was Bush who displayed indecision and moral equivalence.
She forgets that it was Bush who “expressed deep concern,” who called “such an action unacceptable in the 21st century” and who expressed the desire to consult, confer and negotiate “with a dozen other countries,” and was debating with allies on ways to punish Russia for its invasion of Georgia while Russian tanks and troops were thrusting deep into Georgian territory and while, according to Georgian officials, “Gori was looted and bombed by the Russians.”
One can read such doom, gloom and vitriol everywhere to one heart’s content.
The following are some of the latest developments, void of ideology and partisanship:
The State Department reports on the meeting hosted in Paris today by Secretary of State John Kerry with the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, William Hague, and the Acting Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Andriy Deshchytsia.
The United States had conveyed an invitation to the Russian Federation to the meeting, one that Russia declined.
In the meeting, the Governments of the United States, United Kingdom and Ukraine discussed steps needed to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity and called on Russia to engage in consultations with Ukraine as they have committed to in the Budapest memorandum.
The United States, United Kingdom and Ukraine agreed that direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, facilitated as needed by members of the international community, are crucial to resolving the current situation. They also agreed that international observers should be deployed immediately in Ukraine, especially in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. The three governments reaffirmed the importance of protecting the rights of all Ukrainian citizens, and believed that international observers would help address any concerns regarding irregular forces, military activity and the treatment of all Ukrainians irrespective of their ethnicity or spoken language.
The New York Times reports:
The European Union added a significant financial underpinning to the struggling Ukraine government on Wednesday in the midst of the East-West crisis with Russia over Ukraine’s future, offering aid worth as much as $15 billion over the next two years.
The offer comes on top of the $1 billion in American loan guarantees to ease Ukraine’s economic transition, announced here on Tuesday by Secretary of State John Kerry during a visit aimed at reassuring the interim Ukraine authorities and challenging Russia, which escalated the crisis last weekend by seizing control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
The offers of loans are crucial, because Ukraine is in dire economic shape, with a promised Russian loan of $15 billion in abeyance since the ouster of Mr. Yanukovych and Russia’s decision on Tuesday to cancel a large discount on natural gas supplies to Ukraine starting on April 1.
European Union leaders will meet on Thursday in Brussels to consider sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine.
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The European Union also announced in a statement that it is freezing the financial assets in Europe of 18 people held responsible of misusing state funds in Ukraine. The identity of those targeted was withheld pending the official publication in the EU’s legal journal Thursday, at which point the sanctions will be effective for the coming 12 months.
The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said that European Union leaders holding a crisis meeting on Ukraine on Thursday could impose sanctions on Russia if there was no “de-escalation” by then, echoing earlier comments on Tuesday by the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski. Mr. Fabius told French television that measures could include restrictions on visas, on the assets of individuals and a review of existing discussions on economic ties with Russia.
The BBC reports:
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) later confirmed that it had sent 35 unarmed military monitors – from 18 European countries – to Ukraine in response to a request from Kiev. It was not clear if they would be deployed to Crimea.
Finally, and most recently, The Guardian:
US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov – who have sat across the table many times before, but not since Russian troops moved in to Crimea – have just held a brief one-on-one meeting in Paris to discuss the Ukraine crisis, the state department says. Reuters:
“The Secretary urged direct talks between Russia and Ukraine,” a senior State Department official said of the brief “pull aside” on the sidelines of a conference on Lebanon.
The meeting followed a meeting in Paris of foreign ministers from the US, UK, France, Germany and Russia. Lavrov and Kerry were scheduled to meet again this afternoon
Of course, things could still go quickly to hell in a hand basket, but it will not be because Obama allegedly “wears mom jeans.”
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The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.