U.S. Could Offer Concessions If Putin Ignores Crimea Vote - Andrea Mitchell
Source: NBC News
LONDON - The United States and Ukraine's interim government could offer concessions to Vladimir Putin - but only if Russia ignores the outcome of Sunday's controversial referendum in Crimea, sources close to the talks said Friday.
The concessions would also depend on Russia not moving its forces any further into Ukraine.
U.S. officials are extremely concerned about Russia's military movements and say they will have very little warning if Russia actually moves its troops into eastern Ukraine.
Secretary of State John Kerry was in a meeting with his opposite number, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, at Winfield House, the U.S. Ambassador's residence in London, as of 3 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET).
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/u-s-could-offer-concessions-if-putin-ignores-crimea-vote-n52746
The concessions would also depend on Russia not moving its forces any further into Ukraine.
Isn't that a "Well, DUH!" kind of thing?
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dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)where there was no movement on either side.
africanadian
(92 posts)I guess you should lock the post as being outdated, eh? (Even though it was posted on NBC's website at 2:19 this afternoon.)
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Just saying it had been overtaken by later events.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)
Igel
(37,146 posts)That's the offer. Make Crimea into a non-state, one that is de facto Russian but not officially Russian.
The problem is the Russian bases. Putin can't accept this because he needs some "legitimate" government to sign the accord with, or he needs to maintain the occupation.
If he does the latter, he has the "Occupied West Bank" problem, occupying a territory that's not officially part of a country with all the mess that entails. Can you settle and build on it? Well, not according to some people's "international law." Not that most would care.
Moreover, if Crimea isn't part of a state, who controls the maritime regions that belonged to that territory? With it goes not only shipping lanes, but also gas fields and the territory that South Stream's going to transverse.
No, this would make life more complicated. Putin will recognize the results of the referendum, and in this case so will China and a fair number of other countries that will either see it as setting precedent that they can profit from in the future, or simply doing something to prevent the accusation that they're siding "the US" or "the West."
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)This is an encouraging development. It suggests that at least someone in our State Department has come to the realization that sending nothing but ultimatums and demands is unlikely to win cooperation from the Russian government. Perhaps diplomacy isn't a totally dead art in Washington?
reformist2
(9,841 posts)US foreign policy is getting more and more indefensible all the time.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)another_liberal
(8,821 posts)Our government seems to believe shipping pallets stacked high with money will buy our way out of any imperialistic blunder. Our wanton violations of international treaties and agreements aren't even an embarrassment to our leaders anymore.