Related link: Putin Signs Treaty to Annex Crimea; Russia's Deputy PM Laughs at Obama's SanctionstheRightScoop: John Bolton has been saying for weeks that the assets Obama has been threatening to put sanctions on just aren’t going to sit there and wait for sanctions. He said the other day ‘do you think they are still there?’
Well fast forward to [yesterday], after the Crimea ‘referendum’ that happened over the weekend, Obama announced sanctions on several people in the Kremlin, freezing their assets abroad and preventing travel into the US or the EU.
Apparently that didn’t matter so much to one of them, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who openly mocked “Comrade Obama” on twitter saying the sanctions were written by some joker...
Dmitry wasn't alone. Not only did the Russian markets scoff at the inaction, Vlad joined in with the Kremlin mockingly imposing sanctions on the Obama administration and US Senators! To be perfectly honest, it's quite difficult to argue against either not being a joke these days.
Related link: MARK LEVIN: Obama is Vladimir Putin’s DREAM president while he’s our NIGHTMARE presidentDailyBeast: Putin is set to respond to Obama’s sanctions of Russian officials with his own list. Several U.S. Senators and officials will be banned from visiting Russia, including Sen. Dick Durbin.
U.S. senators, congressmen and top Obama administration officials are sure to be on Vladimir Putin’s sanctions list; a response to the Obama Administration’s announcement on Monday that 7 Russian officials and 4 Ukrainian officials would be barred from holding assets or traveling to the United States.
Putin is expected to release his retaliation list as early as Tuesday and while the final list is still being crafted, it will include top Obama administration officials and high profile U.S. senators, in an effort to roughly mirror the U.S. sanctions against Russian officials and lawmakers, according to diplomatic sources. At the top of the list in Congress is Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who recently co-authored a resolution criticizing Russia’s invasion of Crimea.
Then today rolls around, and Putin has followed through with the annexation of Crimea...
Pressing the point, Rush says the Russians are openly laughing at Obama: 'at his face, to his face, and in his face!'NYTimes: A defiant President Vladimir V. Putin claimed Crimea as a part of Russia on Tuesday, reversing what he described as a historic mistake made by the Soviet Union 60 years ago and brushing aside international condemnation that could leave Russia isolated for years to come.
Within minutes of delivering a passionate speech to Russia’s political elite, Mr. Putin cemented his pledge by signing a draft treaty with Crimean leaders to make the strategic Black Sea peninsula part of Russia. The events unfolded two days after Crimeans voted in a disputed referendum to break away from Ukraine. While the treaty signed Tuesday still needs parliamentary approval, that is regarded as a formality.
Related links: RUSH: Obama Should Kick Russia Out Of The IMF And The G8 To Punish Putin
"We said last week that this Ukraine situation was a showdown between ACORN and the KGB. If you will recall, that is one of the ways I characterized it. But in view of the mocking that Obama is getting from the Russians, folks, they are openly laughing at our president. They are openly mocking Barack Obama! This was not supposed to happen, if you recall the campaign of 2008. In view of the mocking that Obama is getting from the Russians, this is also looking like the prankster versus the gangster. ‘Cause Putin’s calling Obama a prankster with his sanctions. Obama’s gonna sanction some individual Russians, so the Russians came and said, “Okay, well, we’ll sanction you!” And they’re mocking him.
Now, one thing that you have to admit: They did not laugh at George W. Bush. You know, it’s funny, folks, our news media claimed for years that the world viewed George Bush as a cowboy, a renegade, an out-of-control hayseed that did not have the respect of any nation around the world and we were being laughed at and joked about and made fun of. Well, they never laughed at George W. Bush. They never mocked George W. Bush. They may have wished he was dead, but they are laughing at Barack Obama, and they’re laughing both at his face, to his face, and in his face."
RUSH: Putin Is Going To Have To ‘Amp It Up’ To Get Media Focused On Him
Is this just the beginning? Ukraine seems to think so, as it's Prime Minister announces that this conflict with Russia is entering the ‘military stage’...
Related link: Putin annexes Crimea; Lt. Col. Ralph Peters says this is just the beginning, Putin will take MORE of UkraineYahooNews: Ukraine's Western-backed prime minister said on Tuesday that his country's conflict with Russia was entering a "military stage" following claims by Kiev that one of its officers was shot and wounded in Crimea.
"The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage," Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an emergency government meeting. "Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian military servicemen, and that is a war crime."
And this may be but a mere glimpse of what's in store on the world stage as long as America's superpower status is shrunk among the allied world under a weak, appeasing administration with a likewise foreign policy.
Too bad Obama doesn't take a hands-off approach internally with our liberties! Everything is truly topsy-turvy, upside-down.
UPDATE: Is Estonia next?
The difference here is that Estonia is a member of NATO. Even so, I wouldn't put that acquisitional challenge out of Putin's grasp, particularly with no real kickback from any Western nations, including those in NATO.HotAir: One of the excuses Russia used to move into the Crimea was its right to protect the Russian speaking minority there. It is pretty thin cover for the expansionist move, but it isn’t without precedent. Back in the late ’30s, Germany used the same excuse to expand it’s borders, eventually leading to WWII.
One assumes Russia isn’t very much concerned how thin their excuse is, since it sees no one on the horizon willing to step up and stop them, so, given some recent statements, Estonia has to wonder if it is next:
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.“Highly sensitive moment” is an understatement. Signalling such “concern” is a blatant warning, not necessarily just to Estonia, but to the West as well. It is issued in the face of VP Biden’s visit to Poland and with the Obama declaration we won’t go to war militarily over the Crimea still in the air.
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.
Related links: Russia talks tough with Estonia as ‘protecting Russian speakers’ excuse wheeled out again after justifying Crimean takeover
Why Moldova, Estonia may feel uneasy about Russia’s actions
