◼ Putin rebuffs Obama as Ukraine crisis escalates - Reuters
President Vladimir Putin rebuffed a warning from U.S. President Barack Obama over Moscow's military intervention in Crimea, saying on Friday that Russia could not ignore calls for help from Russian speakers in Ukraine.◼ One by one, President Barack Obama's warnings to Russia are being brushed aside by President Vladimir Putin, who appears to only be speeding up efforts to formally stake his claim to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. - AP
After an hour-long telephone call, Putin said in a statement that Moscow and Washington were still far apart on the situation in the former Soviet republic, where he said the new authorities had taken "absolutely illegitimate decisions on the eastern, southeastern and Crimea regions.
"Russia cannot ignore calls for help and it acts accordingly, in full compliance with international law," Putin said.
In the week since Obama first declared there would be "costs" if Putin pressed into Crimea, Russian forces have taken control of the region and a referendum has been scheduled to decide its future. Obama declared the March 16 vote a violation of international law, but in a region where ethnic Russians are the majority, the referendum seems likely to become another barrier to White House efforts to compel Putin to pull his forces from Crimea.◼ Counter Putin by Liberating U.S. Natural Gas - John Boehner?Wall St. Journal
Russia has been playing a much more intricate game than the United States in recent years. The resulting imbalance has created a growing threat to global stability, as evidenced last week by Vladimir Putin's invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The ability to turn the tables and put the Russian leader in check lies right beneath our feet, in the form of vast supplies of natural energy.◼ Ukraine shows Obama and then Hillary Clinton goofed on Russia - Rebecca Berg/Washington Examiner
Under Mr. Putin, Russia has expanded its military and tightened its grip on its neighbors by aggressively making the most of its vast resources, exporting oil, coal and natural gas in massive quantities to Europe and elsewhere. Russia's neighbors need large quantities of natural gas—and, currently lacking a better option, they buy much of it from Russia. This dependence has diplomatic repercussions, making them more reluctant to challenge some of Mr. Putin's arrogant actions.
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