United States Secretary of State John Kerry will go to Kiev on Tuesday as symbolic support. From the Sunday news shows in America: Note how many of the proposals here are symbolic, all are diplomatic or economic, none are military:
Kerry:
There are visa bans, asset freezes, isolation with respect to trade, investment. American businesses may well want to start thinking twice about whether they want to do business with a country that behaves like this. These are serious implications.”
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Kerry:
There are visa bans, asset freezes, isolation with respect to trade, investment. American businesses may well want to start thinking twice about whether they want to do business with a country that behaves like this. These are serious implications.”
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Kerry said that he spoke Saturday with foreign ministers from the G-8 and other nations and that “every single one of them are prepared to go to the hilt in order to isolate Russia. They’re prepared to put sanctions in place,” he said. “They’re prepared to isolate Russia economically. The ruble is already going down. Russia has major economic challenges. I can’t imagine that an occupation of another country is something that appeals to a people who are trying to reach out to the world, and particularly if it involves violence.”
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Kerry’s visit to Ukraine on Tuesday will be a diplomatic show of force that is unlikely to be matched with significant military action.
“The last thing anybody wants is a military option,” Kerry said. “We want a peaceful resolution through the normal processes of international relations.”
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Republican Senator Marco Rubio:
“If you’re asking me whether the U.S. should be taking military strikes against Russian troops in Ukraine or in Crimea, I would argue to you that I don’t think anyone is arguing for that,” he said on NBC.
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Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) suggested suspending Russia’s membership in the G-8 for at least a year, “starting right now.”
“Let’s challenge him where we can,” Graham said of Putin.
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China’s Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its Web site Sunday evening condemning what it called “recent acts of extreme violence in Ukraine.”
Spokesman Qin Gang urged “all parties concerned in Ukraine to resolve their internal dispute within the legal framework, and earnestly protect the legal rights and interests of all Ukrainian people to restore normal social order as soon as possible.”
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Unlike in 2008, when Russian troops entered neighboring Georgia, there were no immediate signs that the United States or other nations were positioning military forces or equipment in response. The conflict with U.S.-backed Georgia, like Ukraine a former Soviet republic, brought U.S. relations with Moscow to a new low. Nearly eight years later, Russian troops remain in Georgia.
