What Will It Take?

The Ukrainian army is advancing on the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.  That city is the center of the Russian separatist armed forces that have been battling the government in Kiev.  Those are the same separatists who shot down the defenseless Malaysian Airlines jet killing 298 innocent civilians on their way to Kuala Lumpur from the Netherlands.  Ukrainian army sources now say that long range artillery based in Russia itself and fired by Russian armed forces is bombarding Ukrainian positions in and around Donetsk in an effort to slow the advance of government troops.  Tonight there is confirmation from Russian sources that the Russian army troops are firing on the Ukrainian army in this manner.  In short, Russia is committing and act of war against Ukraine.  There is simply no other way to put it.

So what is the American reaction to this latest news?  There have been no official statements, but those unnamed high government sources who seem to be the source of nearly all statements made by the Obama administration have announced that this latest action by Russia "may affect" the relations between the USA and Russia.  Did you get that?  Russia attacks Ukraine without provocation, Russia sends deadly artillery to bombard Ukrainian soldiers inside Ukraine, and that move may possibly affect America's relationship with Russia.  This is the weakest possible reaction one could imagine from the USA.  Indeed, American silence would have been a stronger response than this latest statement.  With silence, the Russians might at least wonder if Obama was planning to make some move, any move in response to the Russian war on Ukraine.

I wonder what, if anything, it would take for Obama to actually respond to a situation where the interests of the USA are harmed.  Right now, no rational person would believe that Obama will ever react to anything that happens in Ukraine.