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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"US issues warning to Russia over military drills near Ukrainian border"
US issues warning to Russia over military drills near Ukrainian borderby Paul Lewis at the Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/us-warns-russia-milirary-drills-ukraine-border
"SNIP.................................
The United States on Thursday warned Russia that military exercises planned near the border of Ukraine could lead to miscalculation, hours after pro-Moscow gunmen seized government offices in the region of Crimea and raised a Russian flag.
The secretary of state, John Kerry, said he had been reassured by his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, that Moscow was not behind the storming of Crimean government buildings and would respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
In a brief appearance before reporters in Washington, Kerry said he had discussed the situation in Ukraine over the phone with Lavrov. We believe that everybody now needs to step back and avoid any kind of provocations, Kerry said.
Earlier, the White House called on Moscow to avoid provocative actions and said it would be closely monitoring four days of Russian military drills that are due to begin on Friday, amid concern that Russian president Vladimir Putin could be contemplating military intervention in Ukraine.
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lostincalifornia
(3,639 posts)charge, or we would be declaring war on every country
applegrove
(118,900 posts)have their billions in western stock markets. Freezing money could put a lot of 'heat' on Putin. Threatening to would do it just as well. Putin doesn't want to go there.
1000words
(7,051 posts)applegrove
(118,900 posts)1000words
(7,051 posts)applegrove
(118,900 posts)the country of Russia itself is in the markets too.
1000words
(7,051 posts)I also believe Putin has leverage of his own that would likely put him in a power position.
We shall see ...
applegrove
(118,900 posts)and how Russia is involved in many, many markets in the West and how this acts to keep some creep like Putin's behaving sort of okay.
lostincalifornia
(3,639 posts)disappointment with the freezing of assets.
I have no doubt that Russia will then say that they have been asked by Eastern Ukraine to protect them. Now what happens?
applegrove
(118,900 posts)don't, all go after him at once. See? Simple.
Seriously...the interconnectedness of trade and markets has kept the peace between countries often. Look at how the West gets along with China now? Russia is no different. Their success depends on Western markets now more than ever.
lostincalifornia
(3,639 posts)we could hurt it, and Russia is used to isolating itself from the west if it needs to
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Can you imagine if McCain won in 2008? We could have seen WW3 by now.