Would-be Commies in the White House are no match for real ones

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3/19/14, "How Putin Parried Obama's Overtures on Crimea," WSJ,  Jay Solomon, Carol E. Lee

"Five Years After Russia 'Reset,' Ukraine Crisis Shows Limits of U.S. Approach."

"Since the crisis over Ukraine erupted last month, the White House gave Secretary of State John Kerry the task of aggressively engaging Mr. Lavrov. But the administration soon concluded that the Soviet-trained bureaucrat wasn't empowered to cut deals on the Kremlin's plans to annex Ukraine's Crimean region.

The White House, sensing its isolation from Mr. Putin, desperately set about to find alternate channels to influence Russia's strongman and to step up Mr. Obama's outreach to him, according to senior U.S. officials.

The moves included establishing back channels with Moscow-friendly foreign leaders. Mr. Obama phoned German Chancellor Angela Merkel multiple times, as well as British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President François Hollande, and reached out to Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's ruler, the White House said. Mr. Kerry has met with Israel's Russian-born foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, at least once, U.S. and Israeli officials said. The efforts didn't seem to have much impact. (Mr. Nazarbayev recognized the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea on Tuesday.)

Mr. Obama in four phone calls with Mr. Putin over the past month totaling 4½ hours also failed to make headway with a leader he had cultivated as a crucial ally in trying to roll back the spread of nuclear weapons and international terrorism.

This dynamic created a growing unease in Washington that Mr. Putin was simply using diplomacy—and Mr. Lavrov—as political cover for moving his forces into Crimea and possibly greater Ukraine. Mr. Lavrov repeatedly assured Mr. Kerry that Russia planned to respect Ukraine's borders.
 
Kremlin officials have said Russia's diplomatic efforts were genuine. Mr. Lavrov couldn't be reached for comment....

The Obama administration and EU were stunned when former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, a close Kremlin ally, fled Kiev following massive street protests....

Mr. Kerry's close working relationship with Mr. Lavrov has dominated the diplomacy."...  

Mr. Kerry tried one more time on March 14 to get the Kremlin to back off Crimea >in six hours of talks with Mr. Lavrov in London....

Russian officials mocked the impact of the U.S. sanctions, and Mr. Lavrov threatened on Tuesday to retaliate." via Free Rep.

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Comment: The radical left Keystone Kops are in charge today because the US no longer has a two party system. Obama ran virtually unopposed. 

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