In this interview with President Obama you have an open admission of his leftist doctrine and how he and his administration do not see an ideological battle for controls of EU nations as a modern concept.
In essence Obama is saying we don’t see Europe as a geography to fight for territorial control or influence.   Meanwhile Russia, and Vladimir Putin, see Europe as EXACTLY THAT, a geography to mold and influence; and the growth of Russia to its former Soviet stature is exactly his intent.

EUROPE – President Obama has told a Dutch newspaper that the United States does not see the ongoing crisis in Crimea and Ukraine as a “zero-sum game” between Washington and Moscow as pro-Russian forces reportedly overran a third Ukrainian military base in the Black Sea peninsula Monday.
In the interview, published in Monday’s edition of de Volkskrant, Obama said:

“The United States does not view Europe as a battleground between East and West, nor do we see the situation in Ukraine as a zero-sum game. That’s the kind of thinking that should have ended with the Cold War.”

 
(more…)

RUSSIA – President Vladimir Putin completed the annexation of Crimea on Friday, signing the peninsula into Russia at nearly the same time his Ukrainian counterpart sealed a deal pulling his country closer into Europe’s orbit.
Putin said he saw no need to further retaliate against U.S. sanctions, a newly conciliatory tone reflecting an apparent attempt to contain one of the worst crises in Russia’s relations with the West since the Cold War.
Putin hailed the incorporation of Crimea into Russia as a ‘‘remarkable event’’ before he signed the parliament bills into law in the Kremlin on Friday. He ordered fireworks in Moscow and Crimea.  (link)

Throughout history the number one justification used to begin a geographic campaign for territory is the claim to protect a minority within the land mass you seek.
(Via Reuters) Russia signaled concern on Wednesday at Estonia’s treatment of its large ethnic Russian minority, comparing language policy in the Baltic state with what it said was a call in Ukraine to prevent the use of Russian.
Russia has defended its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula by arguing it has the right to protect Russian-speakers outside its borders, so the reference to linguistic tensions in another former Soviet republic comes at a highly sensitive moment.
Russia fully supported the protection of the rights of linguistic minorities, a Moscow diplomat told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, according to a summary of the session issued by the U.N.’s information department. (more…)

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Nothing empowers aggressive action like telling the bully you’ll do nothing to stop him.

WASHINGTON – The White House said Wednesday that President Obama is not actively considering military force as an option in the crisis in Ukraine.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said military action is “certainly not at the forefront of discussions” among the president and his top advisers, saying that Mr. Obama is looking instead at imposing further economic sanctions against Russian leaders for the takeover of Crimea.  “You can expect further costs to be imposed on Russia,” Mr. Carney said.  (link)

One hour later in Ukraine/Crimea: (more…)

Putin plays “Risk”, Potus plays “Sorry”. 

Remember it was all the way back on February 19th when Obama promised to take action if Vladimir Putin “stepped over the line” and used military action in Crimea. Russia has not only used military action, it has annexed Crimea.  So today:
WASHINGTON DC – President Barack Obama today imposed sanctions on seven top Russian government officials and four others from Ukraine and warned Russia will face more penalties if it doesn’t pull back from Crimea.
“Continued Russian military intervention in Ukraine will only deepen Russia’s diplomatic isolation and exact a greater toll on the Russian economy,” Obama said at the White House. The U.S. can “calibrate our response” based on whether Russia chooses “to escalate or to de-escalate the situation.”
The U.S. actions, which mark the broadest use of sanctions on Russia since the end of the Cold War, were made in concert with the 28-member European Union, which imposed its own set of penalties. The U.S. also included a ban on travel visas.

Obama left the door open for diplomacy, saying Russia must pull its forces back to their bases in Crimea, accept international monitors and open discussions with the government in Kiev.  (read more)
 

BBC reporting 95.5% in #Crimea voted to join Russia. Which means that North Korea will claim their dictator is 4.5% better.

— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) March 16, 2014

(Reuters Report) Russian state media said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula and warned separatist leaders “the ground will burn under their feet”.
RIA news agency said 93 percent backed annexation, citing an exit poll released as voting ended at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). Another Russian agency said turnout was over 80 percent.
Caught in an East-West crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, Kiev said Russia’s build-up of forces in the Black Sea region was in “crude violation” of an international treaty, and announced plans to arm and train 20,000 members of a newly-created National Guard to defend the nation. (link)
(more…)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s national security team discussed the Ukraine crisis in a session at the White House on Saturday after a last-ditch bid to find a diplomatic solution to the Cold War-style standoff with Russia floundered.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who just returned from talks with his Russian counterpart in London, was at the White House meeting along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Obama did not attend the meeting but was being briefed about it and other developments involving Ukraine, said Laura Lucas Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.  (read more)

(WASHINGTON DC) – Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ripped fellow Republicans on Thursday for objecting to a package of aid and sanctions to respond to the Ukrainian crisis, calling himself “embarrassed” and telling his GOP colleagues: “Don’t call yourself Reagan Republicans.”

The Senate has erupted in a dispute over provisions related to the International Monetary Fund in the Ukraine bill, as conservative Republicans protest that it is an unnecessary component of the package that passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a bipartisan vote this week.
In a fiery floor speech Thursday evening, McCain, who backed the Ukraine bill and has urged for a speedy congressional response, said he hasn’t “been embarrassed this way about members of my own party.” (more…)

VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky travels to the Kherson region of mainland Ukraine to both the Ukrainian and Russian checkpoints. At the Ukrainian checkpoint, Simon goes inside one of their tanks, and speaks to the commander, who says that despite his Russian blood he will defend all invaders. But at the Russian checkpoint, the exchange isn’t quite as cordial. (link)