I will be shortly as well....
"Obama moves to expand sanctions on Russia; Kremlin responds with travel ban on lawmakers, others" by Mark Landler | New York Times March 21, 2014
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Thursday said that he would expand sanctions against Russia, blacklisting wealthy individuals with ties to the government and a bank used by them, and opening the door to broader measures against Russian energy exports.
The measures deliver on Obama’s warning this week that the United States would ratchet up the costs for Russia if President Vladimir Putin moved to annex the breakaway province of Crimea. But they were aimed at forestalling further Russian incursions into eastern Ukraine, after what Obama described as troubling Russian military movements.
In response, Moscow banned nine US officials from entering Russia, including House Speaker John A. Boehner; Senate majority leader Harry Reid; Senator John McCain of Arizona; and three senior White House officials.
I wouldn't want them in my country, either.
In a statement accompanying the list, Russia’s Foreign Ministry denounced the US sanctions as a tool “from the arsenal of the past” that would backfire. “There should be no doubt: for every hostile attack, we will respond appropriately,” the statement said.
Tensions remained high in Crimea on Thursday, despite the release of a Ukrainian naval commander held by pro-Russian forces and the earlier announcement by Ukraine that it would remove its troops from the region. The pro-Russian forces seized three Ukrainian warships in Sevastopol, Crimea, the Associated Press reported.
In Brussels on Thursday, European Union leaders imposed a travel ban and asset freeze against 12 more Putin supporters. They also announced plans to scrap a scheduled EU-Russia summit in June as part of the intensifying standoff over Ukraine, which has turned into one of the biggest political crisis in Europe since the Cold War.
‘‘We need to prepare to take further steps and we need to do it together,’’ said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. ‘‘A strong Europe is the last thing that Putin wants. He wants to split us up.’’
I'm tired of the braying from jackasses.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said beyond increasing the number of Russians and Crimeans affected by asset freezes and travel bans — initially at 21 politicians and military commanders — the leaders would prepare stronger measures for future use, which would include economic sanctions and an arms embargo.
Either a bluff or a fool's play!
Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, will sign a political agreement Friday with EU leaders, underscoring Europe’s commitment to the new leadership in Kiev, the AP reported.
The EU is recognizing that illegal regime?
Yeah, I guess they would after it rejected their IMF-imposed austerity program.
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The Russian move to block travel by US officials was met with a mix of bemusement and mild defiance in Washington.
Typical AmeriKan arrogance.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, said, “The speaker is proud to be included on a list of those willing to stand against Putin’s aggression.”
Obama announced the new US sanctions before leaving on a trip to Florida.
Thanks for adding to the global warming problem.
“The United States is today moving, as we said we would, to impose additional costs on Russia,” he said. “These are all choices that the Russian government has made, choices that have been rejected by the international community.”
ISRAEL made the SAME CHOICES!
Obama also said he had signed a new executive order that would allow him to impose sanctions on Russian industrial sectors, presumably including its energy exports — a step that would greatly tighten the economic pressure on Russia.
And US!
And LOOK at the DICTATOR in ACTION, huh?
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, denounced the sanctions and suggested that one of those on the list, Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei B. Ivanov, had spent more than 20 years in the KGB’s foreign intelligence service and had already been banned by “a majority of countries in the West,” he told Interfax, adding: “So he is quite accustomed to this situation.”
Ivanov is a close friend and aide to Putin, the two having joined the KGB together in 1975. He has served beside Putin throughout his presidency .
Another Russian singled out, Vladimir I. Yakunin, the head of the Russian Railways and also a close adviser and friend to Putin, said he was being punished for political reasons. “I’m sorry that a country that calls itself democratic uses sanctions for an honest position and for honest statements,” he told Interfax....
Yeah, well, that mask dropped long ago.
The executive order signed by Obama laid the legal groundwork to punish Russian companies involved in the arms trade, as well as other officials who work with the Russian government. The administration is now moving on those fronts as well.
Related: The Biggest Gun Dealers on Planet Earth
(Blog editor simply shakes head at the nearly unbelievable level of hypocrisy, belief only in the fact that I'm seeing it right in front of me)
The new sanctions were coordinated with the measures adopted by the European Union.
The EU is Moscow’s biggest trading partner, and Russia is the EU’s third-largest partner, mostly thanks to exports of raw materials such as oil and gas.
Yeah, but they won't miss that. The cities will just shut down and run dark.
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The Russians are certainly on the move:
"Three Ukrainian warships seized" Associated Press March 21, 2014
KIEV — Tensions remained high in Crimea on Thursday....
Pro-Russian forces seized three Ukrainian warships in Sevastopol....
Russia now appears to be preparing for a military invasion....
Says the illegal Ukranian ambassador that has been accepted and validated by the U.N. -- making that organization now an illegitimate entity.
Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, assured US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday that Russian forces along Ukraine’s eastern border have no intention of crossing into Ukrainian territory.
Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Hagel discussed Ukraine with Shoigu in an hourlong phone conversation.
Shoigu said Russian troops were arrayed along the border only to conduct training exercises and that they would not cross into Ukraine, Kirby said. Shoigu could offer no timetable on how long the exercise would last, Kirby said.
President Obama said Wednesday that he had ruled out the use of US military force in Ukraine.
“We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine,” Obama told Mark Mullen, a news anchor at the NBC affiliate in San Diego. “What we are going to do is mobilize all of our diplomatic resources to make sure that we’ve got a strong international correlation that sends a clear message.”
The comment was Obama’s most direct rejection to date of the idea of taking military action in response to Russia’s annexation. “I think even the Ukrainians would acknowledge that for us to engage Russia’s military would not be appropriate and wouldn’t be good for Ukraine either,” the president said.
Thank you, Mr. President! I know I'm hard on you for other unrelated matters, but thank you for this!
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Yes, so many possibilities elsewhere:
"Obama sees ‘possibilities’ for Iran | Associated Press March 21, 2014
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Thursday that a nuclear agreement with Iran can open up ‘‘new possibilities and prosperity’’ for the Iranian people.
Even as negotiations on the accord continued, the Obama administration issued an order Thursday allowing US academic institutions to operate exchange programs with Iranian universities.
That is going to enrage Israel (and make it easier to frame Iranians for a terror attack on US soil?)!
The announcement followed Obama’s comments in an annual videotaped message to Iranians marking the Persian new year, Nowruz. This year’s message coincides with nuclear negotiations between the United States, Iran, and five other world powers.
Obama said reaching a final nuclear agreement ‘‘will be difficult.’’ But he said he is committed to diplomacy because he believes there is a basis for a ‘‘practical solution’’ to the nuclear dispute.
Obama said Iran would retain access to ‘‘peaceful nuclear energy’’ under a final agreement. He said a deal would also mean more economic growth and jobs for Iranians.
Secretary of State John Kerry, in his own Nowruz message, said he hopes the people of Iran will be able to ‘‘fulfill their aspirations’’ in the coming year. He welcomed in particular the prospect of more educational exchanges between the United States and Iran, saying it would ‘‘reaffirm our belief that strengthening cultural and academic ties between our two countries benefits our two peoples.’’
President Shimon Peres of Israel also sent Iranians a greeting for the Persian New Year, despite tensions between the two countries over the nuclear program.
Netanhyahu also sent a greeting but it is not being reported in my jew$paper.
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Happy New Year, Iran!
Related: Iran Irritating the IAEA
Also see:
Long-held Iran cases may move ahead
Iran accuses foreign agencies in new sabotage plot
Everyone knows USraeli interests have been doing that for years, starting with Stuxnet and the assassination of Iranian scientists. The campaign has been considered quite a success.
Speaking of campaigns:
"Obama goes to Florida to speak out for women’s issues; President tries to boost Democrats before fall voting" by Nedra Pickler | Associated Press March 21, 2014
ORLANDO — Amid grappling with crisis in Ukraine, President Obama made a pitch for women’s career issues Thursday, calling for legislation requiring equal pay for equal work and saying Congress would get more done if it had more women.
Oh, yeah?
Related:
"The administration said insurers could continue charging women more than men, in violation of the new law."
It's Obummer's "war on women!" So will he sign that legislation he is calling for that will never see his desk?
They have even taken to the sports talk shows in a "final public relations push with a zeal that underscores how critical success is for Obama’s political legacy."
Not a good legacy, and I'm not loving it -- not at all!
Obama left for the event at Orlando’s Valencia College after announcing additional sanctions against Russian officials from the White House’s South Lawn, a public juggling of his duties as the country’s chief executive and the Democratic Party’s leader.
I thought being president of all the people took priority, what with the oath and all, but obviously POLITICS DOES with this guy!
I didn't POLITICS was a "DUTY" of a PRESIDENT, did you?!
With Obama and his health care law a political liability in some parts of the country, the president is trying to help his party’s effort to win November elections by leading a debate on economic issues and bringing in campaign funds.
Related:
What to Expect for the 2014 Elections
State of the Union Set the Tone For 2014 Elections
It's just what I expected: total bullshit.
PFFFT!
Florida has one of the country’s most competitive gubernatorial races with incumbent Republican Governor Rick Scott facing Democratic former governor Charlie Crist. But Crist did not appear publicly with Obama and only planned to see him at a private fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee.
Related: A Politically Poisonous President
Also see: Jesus Crist
Was the last time I saw him in my Globe.
Crist spokesman Kevin Cate would not say whether Obama would campaign with Crist later in the race. ‘‘It’s well known that the president and Governor Crist are personal friends. He enjoys spending time with him — will today, and will in the future,’’ Cate said.
The DNC fund-raiser was one of two the president was headlining Thursday in Miami with tickets costing as much as $32,400.
That donation amount seems awfully familiar to me. Must be the maximum limit.
The other, at the home of former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning, benefits the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
About 75 people were expected at that reception and dinner, versus about 25 supporters attending the earlier DNC roundtable discussion at the home of Univision Spanish television host Lili Estefan.
Crist, a former Republican, has been effusive in his praise of Obama and embraced Obama’s health care program, which Scott and the GOP have been using against him.
That sinks his candidacy.
Health care also has been a touchy issue for Scott, who favored expanding Medicaid last year but dropped it after the Republican-controlled Legislature shot it down.
‘‘Today, President Obama is coming to Florida to raise money and do a campaign-style event,’’ Scott said in a statement as Obama left Washington. ‘‘No one knows specifically what he’s going to talk about, but it’s safe to say he won’t be addressing the 1.3 million Florida seniors who are in danger of losing their health care benefits, doctors and hospitals as Medicare Advantage plans are being raided to fund Obamacare.’’
Obama’s Valencia College event was the first in a series of regional forums in a lead-up to a Working Families Summit he’s hosting in Washington on June 23. Others, which will be headlined by various administration officials, were being planned for Denver on April 11, Chicago on April 28, San Francisco on May 5, and for Boston and New York on dates to be announced.
White House aides say turning out female voters, particularly single women, will be a key to Democratic performance in November, so Obama is putting extra emphasis on financial challenges facing that demographic, including equal pay.
You will just have to PAY MORE for HEALTH CARE!
‘‘I’ve got a personal stake in seeing women get ahead,’’ Obama said from a Valencia College stage filled with 25 women of diverse ages and ethnicities. ‘‘First of all, women make up 80 percent of my household, if you count my mother-in-law, and I always count my mother-in-law.’’
Where is she at anyway?
"Michelle Obama plans to avoid politics and focus on education and people-to-people contacts on her first visit to China. She arrived Thursday, traveling with her mother and two daughters on the seven-day, three-city visit. Her schedule over the next week includes...."
Someone doesn't look to happy about the trip!
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Michelle Obama met with President Xi Jinping on Friday, the first day of her weeklong visit to China, in a sign that the leaders of the world’s two largest economies are seeking to build stronger bonds. The formal meeting between Obama and Xi, in the company of Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, and Obama’s two daughters and mother, took place in a state guesthouse after the first lady toured a Beijing high school and the former Imperial Palace. Obama thanked Xi for the warm reception for herself and her family. ‘‘We have had a wonderful first day here in China,’’ she told Xi. Later in the morning, Peng went with Obama to the former Imperial Palace in Beijing. That was to be followed by a private dinner and a performance. On Saturday, Obama is to speak at Peking University."
I may just stay in place on the ping-pong match or further public-relations-related press releases, 'er, news articles.
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Is financially f***ing you just as bad as rape, ladies?
Also see: Obama to give graduation address at Worcester school
Oooooooh! Now I see why they got the front-page write up the day before!
Related: Today's Globe Thicke With Protest
Only controlled opposition kinds.
Also see: Obama Has Lost Libya
The Globe lost that story rather quickly, didn't they?
