memeorandum: Red Lines In Crimea (Walter Russell Mead)

8:45 PM ET, March 1, 2014

Top Items:

Marco Rubio / Politico:

8 Steps Obama Must Take to Punish Russia — Russia's illegal military incursion in the Crimea region in Ukraine is a grave violation of a nation's sovereignty and cannot go unpunished. — First, President Obama should speak unequivocally and call this what it is: a military invasion.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, RIA Novosti, No More Mister Nice Blog, The PJ Tatler and PJ Media

Reuters:

Kremlin Clears Way for Force in Ukraine; Separatist Split Feared — SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — As Russian armed forces effectively seized control of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula on Saturday, the Russian Parliament granted President Vladimir V. Putin the authority he sought to use military force …

Discussion: Fox News, Hot Air, Business Insider, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, RedState, The Moderate Voice, The Week, kyivpost.com, Althouse, Clayton Cramer and New York Times

Julia Ioffe / The New Republic:

Putin's War in Crimea Could Soon Spread to Eastern Ukraine — And nobody—not the U.S., not NATO—can stop him — Vladimir Putin has asked the Federation Council—the upper chamber of Russia's dummy parliament—to authorize the use of force not just in Crimea, but “on Ukraine's territory until …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, CANNONFIRE, Hullabaloo, BuzzFeed, Washington Monthly, The Monkey Cage, The Agonist, Yahoo! News and The Week

Politico:

Putin's reckless Ukraine gambit — Vladimir Putin's surprise decision to ask for a Russian-style War Powers resolution from his parliament dramatically ups the ante in the Ukraine crisis and positions Russia for full-scale military action. It also signals Putin's commitment to use all necessary means …

Discussion: Associated Press, Liberal Values, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week, The Lonely Conservative, The Other McCain and CNN

Eric Bradner / Politico:

GOP senators seek trade actions against Russia — President Barack Obama should sever trade talks with Russia and also try to kick the country out of international organizations over its military intervention in Ukraine, several Republican senators said Saturday.

Discussion: National Review

Conal Urquhart / Guardian:

Ukraine places forces on combat alert and threatens war as UN security council meets - live updates — Ukrainian PM tells Russian forces to return to base in Crimea and warns of war in case of further escalation — Sort by: — 8.05pm GMT — NATO meeting — NATO will now meet at the behest of Latvia and Lithuania.

Discussion: The Week and New York Times

William Booth / Washington Post:

Pro-Russia leader of Crimea claims military control, appeals to Putin for assistance — SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — Crimea's pro-Russian leader on Saturday claimed control of the military and police in the region, saying that soldiers from Russia's Black Sea Fleet are guarding government buildings …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and The Dish

Washington Post:
Condemnation isn't enough for Russian actions in Crimea

Discussion: Power Line, Outside the Beltway, Associated Press, Post Politics, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Gawker

Laura Smith-Spark / CNN:
Russian upper house approves use of force in Ukraine

Discussion: Gawker, Hot Air, Mashable, The Monkey Cage, Taylor Marsh, National Review and Mediaite

Matthew Kaminski / Wall Street Journal: Mikheil Saakashvili: Lessons From the Putin Wars

Ron Synovitz / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
Explainer: The Budapest Memorandum And Its Relevance To Crimea

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Mail, The PJ Tatler, Right Wing News, US Department of State and TIME

Walter Russell Mead:
Red Lines In Crimea

Discussion: Spectator and The Daily Caller

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
U.S. Spies Said No Russian Invasion of Ukraine—Putin Disagreed

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Talking Points Memo, Politico, LewRockwell, Guardian, The Federalist and The PJ Tatler

USA Today:
Last Slide — SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine — Russian parliament's …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Heritage Foundation and The Agonist

Kathy Lally / Washington Post:
Russian parliament approves use of troops in Ukraine

Discussion: Daily Kos and The PJ Tatler

BBC:
Russian parliament approves troop deployment in Ukraine

Discussion: The Week and National Review

Reuters:
Russia wresting control of Crimea from Ukraine

Discussion: Business Insider

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Heckler: Obama wants ‘nuclear war with Russia’

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, The Mahablog, CANNONFIRE and Liberaland

Guardian:
Russian ‘invasion’ of Crimea fuels fear of Ukraine conflict

Discussion: New Jersey Online

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Obama Skips National Security Team Meeting on Russia, Ukraine — A White House official emailed some reporters to say that President Obama's team met today to discuss the ongoing situation on Ukraine. It appears President Obama did not attend. — “The President's national security team met today …

Discussion: Israel Matzav

Nikita Stewart / New York Times:

De Blasio Picks More Liberal Activists Than Managers for City Posts — In Bill de Blasio's City Hall, it seems more and more, there is only a left wing. — The mayor, who advanced in politics by grass-roots organizing, has built a team filled with former activists …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Right Wing News and The Lonely Conservative

Alec Torres / National Review:

Krauthammer's Take: Obama Tells the World We Aren't Going to Do Anything About Invasion of Ukraine — As reports are coming in that Russia has placed 2,000 troops in Crimea, within the borders of Ukraine, President Obama said that “the United States will stand with the international community …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, NewsBusters and Independent Journal Review

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr / Wall Street Journal:

Jenkins: Personal Score-Settling Is the New Climate Agenda — The cause of global carbon regulation may be lost, but enemies still can be punished. — Surely, some kind of ending is upon us. Last week climate protesters demanded the silencing of Charles Krauthammer for a Washington Post column …

Discussion: National Review

Gail Collins / New York Times:

Arizona Sort of Helps Out — It's been quite a week in Arizona. First, the Legislature passed a bill that, in effect, gave businesses the right to discriminate against gay couples. The state's actual business community was horrified. Everybody from Mitt Romney to Newt Gingrich was ticked off.

Discussion: Althouse