The Commentariat -- March 3, 2014
Internal links removed.
The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Ukraine crisis.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "As Russia dispatched more forces and tightened its grip on the Crimean Peninsula on Sunday, President Obama embarked on a strategy intended to isolate Moscow and prevent it from seizing more Ukrainian territory even as he was pressured at home to respond more forcefully. Working the telephone from the Oval Office, Mr. Obama rallied allies, agreed to send Secretary of State John Kerry to Kiev and approved a series of diplomatic and economic moves intended to 'make it hurt' as one administration official put it. But the president found himself besieged by advice to take more assertive action." ...
... CW: Here's an example of what I've meant when I've criticized Baker's reporting. The above is supposed to be a news story. Yet after repeating some of the usual GOP whining (plus a remark from Sen. Dick Durbin [D-Ill.], who is 100% supportive of the President), Baker asks, "Is Mr. Obama tough enough to take on the former K.G.B. colonel in the Kremlin?" Tough enough? Huh? What would sufficiently demonstrate "tough"? Invading Siberia? Bombing St. Petersburg? As Marco Rubio suggests, kicking the Russian tourists out of Miami? Or just some mano-a-mano arm-wrestling with "the former K.G.B. colonel"? If only we had the Dick & Dubya back, they would know what to do. ...
... Will Englund, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian forces expanded their control of Ukraine's Crimea region Monday, as the Ukrainian prime minister acknowledged that his country lack's military options in dealing with the takeover. The Russian forces, already in control of much of Crimea, took possession of a ferry terminal in Kerch, in the eastern part of the peninsula just across a strait from Russian territory, according to reports from the area. The terminal serves as a departure point for many ships heading to Russia." ...
... Steve Erlanger of the New York Times: "With small military standoffs around Ukrainian bases continuing in Russian-controlled Crimea and deepening anxiety about Russian intentions in eastern Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday called Ukraine 'the biggest crisis in Europe in the 21st century.' Visiting the new government in Kiev, Mr. Hague urged Russia to pull back its forces in Crimea or face 'significant costs,' echoing comments made by President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, who is due here on Tuesday." ...
... David Jolly of the New York Times: "The growing crisis in Ukraine hit global financial markets on Monday, unsettling investors who had already been nervous about shaky emerging market economies. The biggest impact was felt on Russian markets, as the Moscow benchmark Micex index dropped 9.4 percent, and the ruble fell to a record low against the dollar." ...
... CW: Yo, Marco, those Russian tourists in Miami are already feeling the pain. Now how many rubles does it take to buy a Cuban coffee? ...
... Geir Moulson of the AP: "The German government said Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday accepted a proposal by Chancellor Angela Merkel to set up a 'contact group' aimed at facilitating dialogue in the Ukraine crisis. Merkel raised the idea in a phone conversation in which she accused Putin of breaking international law with the 'unacceptable Russian intervention in Crimea." ...
... Steve Erlanger: "As Russian security forces consolidated their hold on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula on Sunday, the Ukrainian government called up its reserves and appealed for international help, while American and European leaders warned of potential political and economic penalties for Moscow. Sunday was a day of messages and mopping up, with Ukrainian and Western leaders trying to dissuade President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia from overplaying his hand and ordering an invasion of eastern Ukraine, even as Russian forces and their sympathizers in Crimea worked to disarm or neutralize any Ukrainian resistance there." ...
... Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "The State Department announced Sunday that Secretary of State John F. Kerry will visit Kiev on Tuesday to show support for the new leadership there in the face of Russian military intervention."
... Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Sunday that Russia risked eviction from the Group of 8 industrialized nations if the Kremlin did not reverse its military occupation of Crimea in Ukraine." ...
... Dana Davidsen of CNN: "... U.S. lawmakers are pushing for decisive action against Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the violence in the region and respect Ukraine's independence. Appearing on CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday, Sens. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, made the case for congressional sanctions and a suspension of Russian membership in the G8 and G20." CW: Predictably, Graham called President Obama "weak and indecisive," blah-blah. As far as I can tell, Obama is skeert of foreign leaders, but at home he's a ruthless dictator. ...
... Masha Lipman of the New Yorker: "Vladimir Putin is not interested in mustering a 'coalition of the willing.' ... The West is no longer seen as 'partner,' the word Putin commonly used in the past. The West has become an unequivocal enemy. It is no exaggeration to say that tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine evoke the prolonged division that defined the Cold War. The geopolitical struggles over Iran, Syria, Georgia, and, now, Ukraine do not rise to the apocalyptic potential of the Cuban Missile crisis, but the stakes are enormous.... This is Putin's response to Ukraine's attempt to build a new nationhood that combines a leaning toward the Western world with the nationalism of Ukraine's own west; both 'wests' are regarded by Putin as utterly hostile to Russian interests." ...
... "Russian Exceptionalism." Adam Taylor of the Washington Post revisits Putin's 9/11/2013 letter to the New York Times in which Putin argued against U.S. military intervention in Syria. Putin wrote then that "'decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus,' and that an American-led strike against the Syrian regime 'could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance. ... We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today's complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos,' Putin wrote. 'The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not.'" ...
... Juan Cole contemplates some of the regional implications of Russia's takeover of the Crimea & possible Western sanctions. The situation is, to say the least, complex. ...
... CW: I don't know what to make of this Washington Post editorial, titled "President Obama's Foreign Policy Is Based on Fantasy," since the editors claim they're not warmongering. I think they'd like to see the Pentagon arrange for some goose-stepping military parades on Pennsylvania Avenue. ...
... CW: Since Russia's invasion of the Crimea, many news organizations have run this AP photo of Vladimir Putin, no doubt because he looks insane in the shot. But he also looks to me like a certain American. I wonder if any of you notice a resemblance to another figure often in the U.S. news:
Reid Epstein of Politico: Darrell "Issa, the California Republican who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told 'Fox News Sunday' that [Lois] Lerner, the former head of the IRS tax-exempt division, would testify before his committee Wednesday, which he said he had been told by her attorney. That attorney, William W. Taylor, said Issa is wrong. 'As of now, she intends to continue to assert her Fifth Amendment rights,' Taylor told Politico."
Paul Krugman: "Recently the Federal Reserve released transcripts of its monetary policy meetings during the fateful year of 2008. And boy, are they discouraging reading. Partly that's because Fed officials come across as essentially clueless about the gathering economic storm.... What's really striking is the extent to which they were obsessed with the wrong thing. The economy was plunging, yet all many people at the Fed wanted to talk about was inflation."
Tim Alberta of the National Journal doesn't use the term, but he sure lays out the evidence that John Boehner is a flim-flam man. Actual legislating is not only against the GOP's perceived interests, it's hard, what with the devil being in the details.
Here's a surprise: Netanyahu promises to be obstreperous. Josef Federman of the AP: " Israel's prime minister headed to Washington on Sunday for a high-stakes meeting with President Barack Obama about U.S.-led Mideast peace efforts, vowing to maintain a tough line in the face of heavy international pressure to begin making concessions to the Palestinians."
New Jersey News
Shawn Boburg of the Bergen Record: "Years before they resigned amid a scandal over politically motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, Governor Christie's top two executives at the Port Authority [-- Bill Baroni & David Wildstein --] led a secretive campaign to quickly push through controversial toll hikes on the Hudson River bridges and tunnels by drowning out criticism, limiting public input and portraying the governors of New York and New Jersey as fiscal hawks who reined in an out-of-control agency."
Elsewhere Beyond the Beltway
** Phillip Longman of the Washington Monthly demythologizes and debunks the "Texas Miracle": Texas "may offer low housing prices compared to California and an unemployment rate below the national average, but it also has low rates of economic mobility, minimal public services, and, unless you are rich, taxes that are as high or higher than most anywhere else in America. And worse, despite all the oil money sloshing around, Texas is no longer gaining on the richest states in its per capita income, but rather getting comparatively poorer and poorer.... The real Texas miracle is that its current leaders get away with bragging about it."
Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on Sunday said that he is not ready to legalize marijuana use in the state. 'Well, we have medical marijuana, which gets very close to what they have in Colorado and Washington. I'd really like those two states to show us how it's going to work,' he said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' Brown said he was worried about what would happen to the nation if too many people used the drug too often."
Thoughts from Right Wing World
Arthur Brooks, the president of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, explains in a New York Times op-ed why it's a terrible thing to talk about inequality; rather, we should be instituting the winger/Villager agenda. His little essay is a good example of the slick tricks of fake intellectuals, but you will recognize the wind-up & pitch because you've seen exactly the same malarkey, presented in precisely the same format, coming from that other Brooks -- David. ...
... To continue with our Winger's Guide to the New York Times Op-Ed Page, we turn to a very sad Ross Douthat, who has "surrendered" to those of us who think "love and commitment" are "enough to make a marriage," whereas he is among the ever-dwindling minority who believe marriage should "emphasize gender differences and procreation." ...
... Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly: "It sounds like [Douthat] thinks women are only worth marrying so that they can have men's children. Loving them is not necessary. Being committed to them is not necessary. ...
... CW: That is what Douthat believes. Sadly, Douthat is a moderate conservative; the views of more perverse wingers are that women have almost no value -- they're merely temporary "hosts" to men's children. Incubators.
The federal government takes sides and hands out spoils based on skin color. -- Tucker Carlson, Fox "News" host & editor of the Daily Caller
Okay, that's enough.
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Reader Comments (8)
Juan Cole has a pretty interesting take on the geopolitics of the Russian occupation of Crimea, although it's not the best piece he's ever written. It kinda comes across as if he just spilled the rough draft onto the page and hit publish. Regardless, I hadn't thought about Turkey's position in all of this, which is certainly even more interesting considering all of the scandals that Erdogan's government has been going through over the last few months. With all his internal issues and his crisis of legitimacy within his own country, this could be a chance for him to take the heat off himself and makes some moves internationally. Quite some interesting scenarios to think about.
http://www.juancole.com/2014/03/crimean-middle-winners.html
In other ponderings, the conservative ideals of the proper uses females (pardon my French) got me chuckling about an initiative that was currently taken up in France. I'm not sure if it got much press in the US, but the Ministry of Education was encouraging elementary teachers to introduce classes centered on gender equality so the young Frenchies would hopefully grow up with a fairer vision between the sexes (currently a 25% pay gap difference for the same job/qualifications).
Yet, just in time, some right-wing loonies (yes, they exist here, too. About 20% voted for the far right party last time around) caught wind of this diabolical plan and decided to sabotage it. So "someone" sent text messages to the other parents warning that their kids were going to be indoctrinated by gay and lesbian speakers with "gender theory" declaring that they are neither boys or girls but rather neutral beings and can pick and choose as they wish. On top of that, the little tikes were going to be given "masturbation demonstrations." Only in Right Wing World can equality and diversity education turn into something so distorted.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-schools-battle-boycott-after-hoax-text-messages-warn-of-masturbation-classes-9094080.html
Here's something to wrap your head around. A few days ago I mentioned Stephen Cohen and his remarks back in June about the circumstances in Russia. Today in TNR Isaac Chotiner (he wrote an article that Marie tore apart and that I thought was way off the mark but can't remember what it was) has a piece accusing Cohen of being an apologist for Putin. In the link below for Chotiner's piece is the link to Cohen's article in The Nation. Please read that first (if you are interested) and then proceed with Chotiner. I'd love some feedback on this. By the way, Cohen is the retired NYU professor of Russian Studies and has a doctorate in Russian history. For the record, I'm not sure Chotiner has ever even been in Russia.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116820/vladimir-putin-defended-american-leftist
@PD Pepe: Thanks for the links. The Cohen article is more an argument between scholars -- in this case, between Yale's Timothy Snyder & him. (Despite the date of Cohen piece -- March 3 -- it actually appeared in the Nation a week ago.)
Though Cohen derides many of Snyder's points -- without footnoting a thing, as Chotiner points out -- Cohen is certainly wrong to chide Snyder here: "Again without any verified evidence, he [Snyder] warns of a Putin-backed 'armed intervention' in Ukraine after the Olympics...."
BTW, Cohen appeared on PBS yesterday, where he effectively verified Chotiner's claim that he [Cohen] is pro-Putin. That said, I do think it's a good idea for us to have the advantage of seeing this crisis through Putin's eyes. That doesn't mean I think we should agree with him, but there is little doubt -- as Cohen argued in the Nation piece -- that the U.S. media is jingoistic. Just look at some of the pieces I linked above, So it helps to hear a different POV.
Naturally, I see no reason why we can't all be on the same "side," except, um, human nature -- which is belligerent, selfish & oddly acquisitive of every clod of this planet's dirt.
Marie
Yep! Even Krugman (every once in a while) has to bring on his inner 'Sister Mary Elephant.'
"...stay on topic. If you want to regale others with your thoughts about life, the universe, and everything, get your own blog. It’s not just annoying when you treat the comment section here as a place to vent, it’s hurting the overall experience."
More on his blog: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/comment-etiquette-a-reminder/#commentsContainer
@PD Pepe; While pursuing my 'useless degree' in the humanities I took a class in Russian History and a class in Russian lit. The class in history was taught by a retired professor from NYU who was Russian and Jewish and a New Yorker; quite the brew. He walked his students through the timeline of Russian history from its birth in Kiev(!) to the seventies which is when I took his class. Over and over he emphasized that Mother Russia is like a bellows. It expands and it contracts. Get a book of maps that have the historical borders of Russia and you will see what the prof was saying. The desire for a warm water port, the need for the Baltic, the dreams of a Pan-Asian Empire, the Grand Game; the historical gains and losses are there for the viewing. Unlike the expansion of America; where we took lands and either killed off the native populations or subjected them to assimilation or fenced them off in reservations, Russia's expansion has been and is in territories of established ethic groups and languages that resist assimilation even with the extraordinary methods employed by the invaders.
Because true assimilation is by choice rather than by force Russia will need to find a different way to control and gain from her territories. Right now the Russian Bear is expanding again. I did not think either Cohen or Chotiner gave enough historical background in their pieces to allow their readers to really understand what is going on today in the Ukraine.
The Russian Lit class give me a window into the "Byzantine mind"; it's not a single pane of clear glass, it is a kaleidoscope. Like pictures of saints in a Orthodox church; fractured pieces making up a whole.
@Marie &JJG: Thanks for your input. I haven't read the Synder piece, but will do so tomorrow. Just finished reading David Remnick's article, "Patriot Games," in the New Yorker in which he says that "Like so many Americans and the European far right, Putin warns that the West has been rejecting the "Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilization.' "
And yes, how important to get different POV's––I find this exciting, this investigation into Russia's inner core at this time in our lives. I have come away with distain at some of our country's political leaders along with the media that seem to forget our own past atrocities when judging other country's. "One might quibble that 'entrenched power elites' are hardly confined to Putin's Russia, while from the standpoint of some radical thinkers, using money to get power and power to get money might serve as an accurate description of some aspects of the American political system." John Gray.
But of course the comparison, thought apt, appears rather lukewarm when compared with other rules of law in Russia.
By the way, JJG, Glad your tongue was in your cheek when you wrote: "while pursuing my "useless degree" in the humanities. Aren't we lucky–––the world opens up for us and in the end never lets us down and on dark days we can sit and read and read; some say like la leche de Madre––the nurturing of our spirits.
Putin really looks insane. You can't mean that he looks like Boehner, can you? For one thing, he's not orange.
"Only in America", as President Obama is fond of saying, would you find a gay remora like Lindsey Graham attached to a withered old shark like John McCain still getting a lot of press for calling the President weak. Press that gives legitimacy to this pathetic duo. McCain has never ever been correct about any foreign policy and his conduct, including popping wheelies in multi-million dollar aircraft, is no proof of foreign policy chops. I suspect there wasn't a lot of foreign policy talk while he was a prisoner of war. His personal story doesn't support an assumption that he throws himself into rigorous study of any subject and he has never demonstrated an understanding of much. Lord have mercy, Sarah Palin says all you need to know. Lindsey has spent most of his political life in the closet, popping out to tap his foot in time to the latest McCain gibberish.
The inability to see the world in any light but physical force is archaic, destructive and so fricking tedious.