The White House has announced that President Obama held a 90 minute telephone conversation with President Putin today. He reminded him of the various treaties and international law that he is violating and called on him to withdraw his forces back to the Russian base in Crimea.
He told Putin that continued violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would negatively impact Russia's standing in the international community. President Obama will be consulting with the United Nations Security Council and several other international groups, and he will suspend any further preliminary talk for the upcoming G-8 Summit meeting.
There was nothing said in the announcement about Putin's reaction. Presumably he was not persuaded. My understanding is that his justification, whether valid or not, is that he is protecting the Russian citizens who live in Ukraine under what he considers an illegal takeover of the Ukraine government.
This is a tense, very bad situation. This is not the time for John McCain and Lindsey Graham to be mouthing off about taking a more aggressive military approach. They may disagree with his measured, diplomacy-first handling of the situation; but he is the elected Commander in Chief. As former military officers, McCain and Graham should know that the middle of a crisis is not the time to be undermining the commander's leadership.
Ralph
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