Kerry Blunder Will Cost Ukrainians
Saturday US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov the US would “close any available space for diplomacy” if Russia annexes Crimea. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/john-kerry-made-troubling-threat-151446123.html and
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-ukraine-crisis-usa-idUSBREA270OZ20140308
This is not the first diplomatic blunder for John Kerry. Recall when in September 2013 the US jeopardized Syria when Kerry spouted off about avoiding US force if Assad would surrender chemical weapons. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/09/10/syri-s10.html
Today, Russia continues its annexation process over Crimea after changing its laws to support annexation of places with Russian speaking people, despite international opposition. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/09/ukraine-crisis-idUSL6N0M606520140309
Analysts at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com view Secretary Kerry’s remarks as extremely unhelpful, since short of military confrontation, diplomacy offers the only means to unwind the Ukraine crisis. This ‘no more diplomacy’ posture poses the most likely scenario for war, yet obviously the US has no real capacity for acting alone, so HFS analysts wonder whether the UN or other US allies were consulted before the Kerry remarks.
What do you think?
Entirely agree. It was a blunder on Kerry’s part. 🙁