Ukraine Update : Putin 1 - Obama 0

Russian President Vladimir Putin asked for and quickly got parliamentary approval to use its military to protect Russia's interests across Ukraine. Sometimes-violent pro-Russian protests took place Saturday in a number of Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine cities - Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk - and in the southern port of Odessa. In Kharkiv, 97 people were injured in clashes between pro-Russia demonstrators who routed supporters of the new Ukraine-Kiev government out of the regional government building and hoisted the Russian flag, according to the Interfax news agency. Moscow's immediate focus appears to be Crimea. Ignoring President Barack Obama's warning Friday that "there will be costs" if Russia intervenes militarily, Putin escalated the stakes concerning Ukraine's future, evoking memories of Cold War brinkmanship. What began Thursday with the early-morning takeover of the regional parliament building by mysterious troops continued Saturday afternoon as dozens of those soldiers - almost certainly Russian - moved into the streets around the parliamentary complex and seized control of regional airports. Media reports say that up to 6,000 more Russian troops and 8 Russian military transport planes entered Crimea on Saturday. Moscow has remained silent on claims that Russian troops are already in control of much of the peninsula, saying any troop movements are within agreed-upon rules governing the semi-autonomous Ukrainian region. Despite Putin's statement to his parliament that Moscow needs to protect pro-Russian Ukrainians, there has been no sign of ethnic Russians facing attacks in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine. US President Obama has called on Russia to respect the independence and territory of Ukraine and not try to take advantage of its neighbor's political upheaval. He said such action by Russia would represent a "profound interference" in matters that should be decided by the Ukrainian people. He has not said, however, how the US could pressure Moscow to step back from its intervention. The Russian parliament has asked Moscow to recall its ambassador in Washington in response to Obama's speech, while US Senator John McCain, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Hoekstra and others have criticized President Obama for pursuing a weakened US foreign policy that has naively left a vacuum in responsible world leadership, saying that Vladimir Putin has taken advantage of the vacuum to solidify Russia's position in Ukraine and protect its Black Sea fleet. ~~~~~ Crimea was taken from resident Tatars by Russia under Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Tatars, the historic occupants of Crimea who make up 12% of the semi-island's population, stand strongly for Crimea remaining part of Ukraine, but they didn't offer resistance to Saturday's Russian occupation. Crimea became part of Ukraine when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave the peninsula to his native land in 1954, a gift of little importance until the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 and Crimea ended up part of an independent Ukraine. Despite that, nearly 60% of its population of 2 million identify themselves as Russians. The Crimean port of Sevastopol is the home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and its thousands of naval personnel. Russia was rattled in 2009 when the pro-Western Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko warned that it would have to leave the key port by 2017. But shortly after pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych was elected president in 2010, he agreed to extend the Russian lease until 2042. Russia fears that Ukraine's new pro-Western government could evict it. ~~~~~ Despite Putin's sudden and massive move to occupy Crimea, there were possible signs Saturday that the Russian leader could soften his approach. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was freed last week after more than 2 1/2 years in prison, was reported to be heading to Moscow for a meeting with Putin on Monday. Putin has had good ties with Tymoshenko in the past, and he may look to her for a possible compromise. In a statement posted on her party's web site, Tymoshenko urged the UN Security Council to meet in Kiev and asked EU leaders to convene a meeting in Crimea. She urged the West to help protect Ukraine's territorial integrity, asked Ukrainians to remain calm and voiced hope that diplomacy will succeed. Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said the Russian parliament's motion doesn't mean that Putin would immediately send additional troops to Ukraine (if he hasn't already done it). "There is no talk about it yet," he said. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also said in televised remarks that while the president "got the entire arsenal of means necessary for settling this situation," he hadn't yet decided whether to use the Russian military in Ukraine or recall the ambassador from Washington as lawmakers suggested. However, Putin's parliamentary motion loosely refers to the "territory of Ukraine" rather than specifically to Crimea, raising the possibility that Moscow could use military force in other Russian-speaking areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, where many detest the new authorities in Kiev. It is possible that Putin envisions separating Crimea from Ukraine, forming a separate entity integrated with Russia economically and politically and leaving a weakened Ukraine to try to build a new nation. On the economic front, Russia put additional pressure on Ukraine when a spokesman for state gas company Gazprom said that Ukraine owed $1.59 billion in overdue bills for imported gas. Sergei Kuprianov said in a statement carried by Russian news wires that the gas arrears would endanger a recent discount granted by Russia. The Russian payment demand clearly enlarges Ukraine's financial crisis. The country is almost out of funds and is seeking emergency credit from the International Monetary Fund, whose president, Christine LaGarde says she is not yet worried about Kiev's financial status. ~~~~~ As events moved swiftly on Saturday, one Crimean woman expressed her opinion on another aspect of the crisis : "Russia is not just all flowers" she said, noting that she feels safer with the Russian military presence but does not want Crimea to become part of Russia. And flights remained halted at Simferopol's airport Saturday while armed men in military uniforms without markings patrolled the area. They didn't stop or search people leaving or entering the airport, and refused to talk to journalists. AP reported that journalists coming from mainland Ukraine to Crimea were briefly stopped at a checkpoint manned by troops in unmarked camouflage uniforms, as well officers in uniforms of the Berkut, the feared riot police that cracked down on anti-Yanukovich protesters before he fled the capital a week ago. Late Saturday, Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, announced that he has put the country's armed forces on high alert after the Russian parliament's vote to grant President Vladimir Putin permission to mobilize the country's military in Ukraine. Turchynov said Saturday he had also ordered increased security at nuclear power plants, airports and other strategic infrastructure, because of the threat of "potential aggression." Saturday evening, the UN Security Council met to discuss the Ukraine crisis, but because of Russia's veto, no resolution will be possible. And, finally, President Obama phoned President Putin late on Saturday to discuss the situation. ~~~~~ Dear readers, we are at a very important juncture in the Ukraine crisis. While things are fluid and moving rapidly, several things are clear. First, Russia has successfully secured Crimea and will not easily give it up in any future negotiation, so Vladimir Putin has once more out-maneuvered the West and continues to build his new "Russian Empire." Second, the vacuum created by President Obama's mismanagement of US foreign policy has created a world more unstable than it has been at any time since the end of World War II. This instability will continue to create challenges to world order until 2016, when a new American President takes over and rebuilds the Pax Americana that is desperately lacking now. In world politics, there are no zero-sum games. There is only resolve backed by power and enlightened by the belief that human liberties and freedom are worth the cost of preserving them.