Yesterday, I wrote about the news that the Russian Defense Minister was refusing to take calls from the US Secretary of Defense. Now we get confirmation that this is a wider move by the entire Russian government: no more talking with Washington. Here is how this news was reported by the Daily Beast:
Since the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama have had regular phone calls in an often half-hearted attempt to deescalate the ongoing crisis inside Ukraine. But as the U.S. and EU prepare to unveil new sanctions against Russia, Putin has decided the interactions should stop. The Kremlin has ended high-level contact with the Obama administration, according to diplomatic officials and sources close to the Russian leadership. The move signals an end to the diplomacy, for now.
So there you have it. Not only will Russia ignore the requests made by Washington with regard to Ukraine, it will also not even talk with Washington. The last conversation between Obama and Putin was April 14, two weeks ago. It has taken that long for word of the cut off of communications to get out.
In a strange sort of way it is funny to see the reaction by Obama and his people to Putin's decision to ignore them completely. As each crisis has occurred around the world, the Obamacrat response has been to talk about it. Chemical weapons in Syria led to talk in Geneva. Civil war in Syria also led to a push for more talks. Crimea resulted in talks and yet another phony "agreement". America has been almost apoplectic about the need for talks between Israel and the Palestinians even though those talks were clearly doomed. Indeed, at the end of the Israel/Palestinian talks the goal of secretary Kerry was to keep the talks going rather than to resolve anything in the talks. For Obama and Kerry, "talks" seem to be their own reward. It is just another manifestation of their shared delusion that talking about something is the same as doing something. Now Putin has taken the possibility of talks off the table. Russia won't talk. My guess is that more than a few heads exploded at the White House when they realized that they could no longer engage in talks with the Russians.
The truth is that this is both a gamble and a brilliant move by Putin. The gamble is that absent talks, Washington might actually be forced to do something regarding Ukraine. It is most likely, however, that without the mechanism of using talks to paper over the differences among the NATO allies, the schisms in the alliance will come to the fore. Will the Germans agree to harsh sanctions on Russia? That is doubtful. Will the French agree to any military commitment to Ukraine? That too is doubtful. Will there be a consensus to reaffirm commitments to the Baltic states and Poland? We will have to wait and see, but there is a serious doubt here too. The truth is that Putin's move will display NATO as the bickering bunch that they really are. The truth is also that Putin's move makes clear the bankruptcy of the current Obama foreign policy.
Since the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama have had regular phone calls in an often half-hearted attempt to deescalate the ongoing crisis inside Ukraine. But as the U.S. and EU prepare to unveil new sanctions against Russia, Putin has decided the interactions should stop. The Kremlin has ended high-level contact with the Obama administration, according to diplomatic officials and sources close to the Russian leadership. The move signals an end to the diplomacy, for now.
So there you have it. Not only will Russia ignore the requests made by Washington with regard to Ukraine, it will also not even talk with Washington. The last conversation between Obama and Putin was April 14, two weeks ago. It has taken that long for word of the cut off of communications to get out.
In a strange sort of way it is funny to see the reaction by Obama and his people to Putin's decision to ignore them completely. As each crisis has occurred around the world, the Obamacrat response has been to talk about it. Chemical weapons in Syria led to talk in Geneva. Civil war in Syria also led to a push for more talks. Crimea resulted in talks and yet another phony "agreement". America has been almost apoplectic about the need for talks between Israel and the Palestinians even though those talks were clearly doomed. Indeed, at the end of the Israel/Palestinian talks the goal of secretary Kerry was to keep the talks going rather than to resolve anything in the talks. For Obama and Kerry, "talks" seem to be their own reward. It is just another manifestation of their shared delusion that talking about something is the same as doing something. Now Putin has taken the possibility of talks off the table. Russia won't talk. My guess is that more than a few heads exploded at the White House when they realized that they could no longer engage in talks with the Russians.
The truth is that this is both a gamble and a brilliant move by Putin. The gamble is that absent talks, Washington might actually be forced to do something regarding Ukraine. It is most likely, however, that without the mechanism of using talks to paper over the differences among the NATO allies, the schisms in the alliance will come to the fore. Will the Germans agree to harsh sanctions on Russia? That is doubtful. Will the French agree to any military commitment to Ukraine? That too is doubtful. Will there be a consensus to reaffirm commitments to the Baltic states and Poland? We will have to wait and see, but there is a serious doubt here too. The truth is that Putin's move will display NATO as the bickering bunch that they really are. The truth is also that Putin's move makes clear the bankruptcy of the current Obama foreign policy.
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