Tuesday, March 18, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Will sanctions deter Vladimir Putin? – CBS
By Rebecca Kaplan CBS News March 18, 2014

It had been all of five hours since the U.S. announced it was levying new sanctions against 11 Russians and Ukrainians accused of helping to violate Ukraine's territorial integrity when Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to respond.

He signed an order declaring Crimea a sovereign state, validating the results of a Sunday referendum in the peninsula that the U.S. has called an unequivocal violation of international law. Putin is also reportedly considering sanctions of his own against U.S. senators who have been critical of Russia.

He wasn't alone in his response to the White House's threat. One of the sanctioned Russians, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, openly mocked the president on his Twitter account, writing, "Comrade @BarackObama, what should do those who have neither accounts nor property abroad? Or U didn't think about it?)," among other things.

Monday's sanctions were a first step, experts say, and it's already clear they've done absolutely nothing to convince Putin to back down or even seek a diplomatic resolution. The reasons are twofold: they don't strike that close to Putin, but they also don't do much to harm the individuals who are targets.

"These sanctions seem to be aimed at people who have played a visible role but don't seem to be the actual decision makers on the Russian side," said Eugene Rumer, the director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment For International's Peace. Formerly the national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Intelligence Council, Rumer said that some of the advisers who appear to the public and the west are "just conduits for the decisions made in the inner circle."

They also won't have much of an economic effect. The sanctions will block U.S. accounts for the seven Russians and four Ukrainians who were named in the executive order, but they didn't necessarily have any assets here that will be subject to the order.

"These guys, I presume, aren't stupid enough to have accounts in the United States. And you can't get a visa to go to Las Vegas and play the games. So at the end of the day, they can live with these sanctions," said former ambassador James Jeffrey, who is now at the Washington Institute. "This will have no economic significance, per se, on Russia, nor will it have any impact whatsoever on what Putin has done."

CBS News National Security Analyst Juan Zarate explains that the sanctions are intended as the first U.S. step - one that will demonstrate its willingness to go after private citizens. Sanctions can be expanded over time to hunt down state assets hidden way by the oligarchy, or to hit those with ties to organized crime, or those who do business with Syria, Iran, and North Korea.

"If you take the financial gloves off you could begin to hurt the Russians in a fairly dramatic way," he said. But that takes political will, it takes time, and it will be a process of escalation."

Putin will up the ante Tuesday in a speech where he is expected to call for Russia to formally annex Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that experts largely agree is probably gone from Ukraine forever. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney refused to rule out the possibility of sanctions against Putin himself when he briefed reporters Monday, although even that is a move that would likely have almost no effect on the crisis at hand.

Rumer questioned how the U.S. would be able to negotiate with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the two most high-profile figures in the Ukraine crisis if they were levying sanctions against the pair. Jeffrey noted that Putin would still be able to travel to the U.N., even if a U.S. travel ban kept him out of the country.

Zarate added: "That in some ways would be an economic nuclear weapon that frankly would probably have more impact on the diplomacy and the geopolitics than it would on Russia's financial standing."

"I think Russia's financial isolation can be handled in a much more nuanced and frankly aggressive way by going after some of the oligarchs, by isolating some of the Russian banks, and by focusing on some of the illicit activity that the Russians are engaged in whether its ties to organized crime or supplying Assad and Damascus with weapons and chemicals."

Not everyone is as optimistic that even increased sanctions will change Putin's behavior. Rumer, for instance, believes that Putin will be undeterred by almost anything because he is acting so decisively. And with each passing day, Crimea drifts closer and closer to Russian hands, meaning the U.S. will be seeking a highly unlikely about-face from Russia on its recent actions if it looks for Russia to invalidate the results of the Crimean referendum and withdraw its troops to just its port in Sevastopol.

There certainly are few options to get Putin to back down within the next few days before it seeks to annex Crimea. One idea popular among Republican leaders is an expansion of U.S. natural gas exports to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian oil and gas, but even that could take years to be effective because of the infrastructure that would have to be built in parts of Eastern Europe.

For the U.S. to seek to counter Russia's energy prowess in the region would be a "could be a very important signal to the Russians that they are playing a losing hand in the long term, that what they are doing is forcing the rest of the world to not only isolate Russia in the short term but to think about workarounds around Russia's economy," Zarate said.

"I see the discussion around natural gas replacement as an important one, not because its going to solve the problem this week or this month but because it sends a very clear signal to Russia that they are on the losing side of a long game."
Jeffrey added that it has long-term psychological importance because such a move would say to the Russians, "your behavior is going to drive you into a position where you will be hurt, where you are most vulnerable."

Russia's economy is heavily dependent on oil and gas exports, which account for more than 50 percent of revenues in its federal budget, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

But still, that's a long-term impact, and one that won't stop Crimea from permanently falling into Russian hands.

"If the goal is to help Ukraine well that's not going to have any immediate impact and until more such terminals really get built by the Europeans to the tune of tens of billions of dollars and it will take years and years to do that," Rumer said. "This well-intentioned move is not going to have the desired effect."




I notice not even the Republicans are talking about an old-fashioned military standoff against Russia, though that is the nature of what Russia is doing. I think we should not make an opposition to the Russians' annexing Crimea if the people there want to go over to the Russian side -- though I read that the Ukrainian speakers in Crimea mostly just stayed home rather than voting -- because Crimea is more closely linked ethnically to Russia than the other parts of Ukraine. The government in Kiev needs to ready its military forces to oppose Russian troops and Russian speaking uprisings within Ukraine. I think if they do that then the US and NATO could bring in peace keeping troops, too. It doesn't look like the US or EU will do anything so forceful without the Ukraine's leadership militarily stepping forward first.

I did find the following website from Pravda which relates to a new potential threat of nuclear activity, http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/01-08-2012/121804-russia_army_base-0/. This statement by Putin is in reference to an increased state of preparedness to use nuclear weapons if the US were to threaten them. Supposedly it is in response to American moves to surround Eastern Europe, the Baltic states and Ukraine. The article is dated 2012 before the present Ukrainian crisis developed to this point. The article threatens to put nuclear weapons in or on ships near Cuba. This looks like another step toward a renewed Cold War.

I have seen no recent news article relating to nuclear pressure as a response to US and EU threats to isolate Russia, but I will collect them if I do. The following article from NBC News gives some stronger suggestions for US and NATO actions.



Under Pressure: Obama Weighs Options on Next Move with Russia
By Tom Curry

The White House may have frozen the assets of nearly a dozen allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but in the fight for Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, some in Washington say it's not enough.

Putin upped the tensions by delivering a defiant address Tuesday criticizing “Western exceptionalism” and accusing American and European nations of behaving in a “rude, irresponsible and unprofessional” manner on Ukraine. The Russian president also signed a draft treaty, a further step in the process of making Crimea part of Russia.
Tougher sanctions, economic pressure and even limited military assistance are among the options left in President Barack Obama’s toolbox. Here's a guide to the criticism swirling around Obama, and what his next steps could include:

What’s the criticism of Obama's response?
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the limited financial sanctions and visa bans which Obama announced Monday “won't do enough to modify Russian behavior. So far, the administration’s calibrated actions have failed to affect Vladimir Putin’s decisions.” Sen. John McCain blasted the sanctions, saying, “I don’t know how it could have been weaker, besides doing nothing.”

Stephen Blank, senior fellow for Russia at the American Foreign Policy Council and a former professor of National Security Studies at the Army War College, said that Putin “counted on the weakness, irresolution and confusion of NATO and Obama and, sad to say, he was right.”

President Bush invaded Iraq in 2003 and that did not stop President Putin from invading Georgia in 2008.

But Michael McFaul, an NBC News analyst who served as Obama’s ambassador to Moscow until last month, said Putin acted in Crimea not in response to Obama’s action or inaction in Syria or elsewhere, but in reaction to the failure of Putin’s attempted alliance with Ukraine under now-ousted President Viktor Yanukovich.

Putin calculated that there would not be an American military response to his invasion of Crimea, and McFaul said there’s a history of Russian leaders intervening in places in Eastern Europe and along the Russian periphery and American presidents being unable or unwilling to stop them.

“President Bush invaded Iraq in 2003 and that did not stop President Putin from invading Georgia in 2008,” McFaul noted.

Does Obama have military options?
If Putin ordered Russian troops further into eastern Ukraine, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Sunday “I don't think there's anything that we can do militarily” to block that. What’s needed is “a longer-term effort to build up the Ukrainian military,” he said.

And Corker agreed, saying Monday that “the United States should explore direct security assistance to the Government of Ukraine.”

Ukraine is not a NATO member, but Poland and the Baltic States are. Therefore the United States is obligated by the NATO treaty to defend them from any attack. Vice President Joe Biden visits Poland and Lithuania this week, where he will try to reassure the leaders of those NATO allies, as well as Estonia and Latvia.

Blank said a large joint US-NATO military exercise in the Baltic states and Poland would serve a useful purpose at this point. A NATO exercise called “Steadfast Jazz” last fall involving 6,000 troops was, he said, small compared to Russian exercises involving 100,000 troops. Blank also said he’d station permanent NATO ground forces in the Baltic states and Poland.

What additional sanctions could Obama and Congress impose?
Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank, said Obama administration and European Union officials “are doing contingency planning in case Russia escalates the crisis by invading Eastern Ukraine. Putin cannot discount the possibility that tough financial sanctions will be applied that disrupt trade and investment with Russian companies.”
He said concern about such measures “already reportedly has led some projects to be pushed back; the big risk going forward is the collapse of Western investments to help upgrade Russian oil and gas production and distribution.”

Russia became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2012 and, as such, enjoys non-discriminatory treatment on tariffs and other trade barriers.

Schott has suggested that the U.S. and European governments consider invoking a provision of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which provides exceptions for national security reasons from rights and obligations under the WTO.

He said this could “offer a more flexible means to impose (and subsequently withdraw) broad trade sanctions than comprehensive financial sanctions” of the kind that were imposed on Iran.

Are the countries of the European Union also pressuring Putin?
Yes, they have announced their own set of economic sanctions against 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials, but those sanctions are a long way from curtailing the $450 billion in annual trade with Russia. What economic steps can the United States take alone?

“We can put pressure on U.S. companies to stop investing in Russian energy projects and pass (economic sanctions) legislation similar to what we’ve done with Iran,” offered Blank.

What role does energy play in this strategic struggle?
Energy policy could be a strategic lever for the Obama administration. Blank suggested that the administration allow expedited exports of both U.S. oil and gas to Europe, noting that 80 percent of Russia’s revenues from energy sales come from oil, not natural gas.

But ending the ban on export of U.S. crude oil, which dates back to the 1970s, would require action by Congress.

Blank said that the administration ought to increase support for a pipeline from the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, which is on Russia’s southern border, in order to increase natural gas supplies to European nations. “If you want to economically strike at the Russians this is a way to do it,” he said.




According to McFaul in this NBC article Putin acted not in response to the US “but in reaction to the failure of Putin’s attempted alliance with Ukraine under now-ousted President Viktor Yanukovich.” McFaul also goes on to say that Putin calculated that the US and NATO would not respond militarily, either because they are unable or unwilling to stop them, due to the past history of Russia's interventions in bordering countries with no strong response from the West.

Senators Murphy and McCorker agreed that there is nothing in the way of military response that will stop the Russians. They suggested building up Ukraine's own military capability and “direct security assistance” would help. The article doesn't say what kind of direct security assistance and by whom.

Stephen Blank said a large NATO-US military exercise based in the Baltic and Poland might help, as well as stationing permanent NATO ground troops there. Blank's recommendations are the best, in my opinion, that have been mentioned so far. I think we need to do something strong and be prepared to defend Ukraine, because I do suspect that Putin's next step will be moves to annex or overwhelm all of the Ukrainian territory.

Jeffrey Schott said that the US and EU are planning ways to “disrupt trade and investment with Russian companies” through blocking Russia's rights under the WTO. Blank suggested that the US expedite oil sales to Europe as well as natural gas, because Russia depends more on its oil sales than on natural gas. This would require an act of Congress, due to a ban on exporting US crude oil which has been in place since the 1970s. Blank said supporting a pipeline for natural gas from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan would also hurt Russia economically.




Wayne Knight, a.k.a. Seinfeld’s "Newman," says he is not dead – CBS
CBS News March 16, 2014

The rumors started early Sunday: Wayne Knight -- perhaps most famous for being "Newman," Jerry Seinfeld's nemesis on the eponymous and wildly popular TV show -- had died in a car wreck.

By late afternoon, "Wayne Knight" had become the top trending term in Google searches.
The rumors of his demise, however, were greatly exaggerated. The actor, also known for his roles in "Jurassic Park" and "Toy Story 2," took to Twitter to refute the claims with a bit of humor.

"Some of you will be glad to hear this, others strangely disappointed, but....I am alive and well!" the actor tweeted.
Hello, Newman.

That wasn't all Knight had to say, however.
Does someone have to DIE to trend? Geez! Thanks for all the love everybody. I didn't know you cared. Glad to be breathing!
— Wayne Knight (@iWayneKnight) March 16, 2014
Knight currently stars as Haskell Lutz on the TV Land show "The Exes."



I'm glad to see that Knight is alive and happy. I have never been a fan of Seinfeld, but I do think Knight was the funniest actor on the show. This reminds me of the story about Mark Twain when a rumor of his death circulated. He said in response, “the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”




Ten Days On, Thai Military Says It May Have Spotted Missing Jet – CBS
The Associated Press
First published March 18 2014, 7:57 AM
Jonathan Morgan file

Ten days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished, Thailand said its military radar may have spotted the plane around the time it lost contact with air control, but added that it had not shared the information immediately because nobody specifically asked for it.

Shortly before the flight’s last communication at 1:31 a.m. (1:31 p.m. ET), military equipment "was able to detect a signal, which was not a normal signal, of a plane flying in the direction opposite from the MH370 plane," Thai air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn said on Tuesday.

The radar signal was infrequent and did not include any data such as the flight number.

Montol’s description of the jet’s twisting flight path took the plane towards the Strait of Malacca where Malaysian radar tracked the jet, but he said the Thai military didn't know whether it had detected MH370.

“We did not pay any attention to it,” he said when asked why it took so long to release the information. “The Royal Thai Air Force only looks after any threats against our country, so anything that did not look like a threat to us, we simply look at it without taking actions."

The plane never entered Thai airspace and Malaysia's initial request for information in the early days of the search was not specific, he added.

"When they asked again and there was new information and assumptions from (Malaysian) Prime Minister Najib Razak, we took a look at our information again," Montol said. "It didn't take long for us to figure out, although it did take some experts to find out about it."




A “twisting” flight path – do they mean the plane was out of control and weaving around? Probably not, because they said the radar signal was infrequent, so they must have continued to register it over a period of time in order to plot its course toward the Strait of Malacca during which time it stayed in the air. I think this use of the phrase “twisting” was an error. This report doesn't really shed any new light on the mystery except to confirm previous reports. I think we may never know what happened to this plane. All passengers are probably lost.




24 Can't Settle Score: Latino Vets See Racism Despite Medals – NBC
By Bill Briggs
First published March 18 2014, 3:06 AM

One man slithered across an open field toward a manned tank, climbed atop and chucked in a grenade, saving his exposed company.

Two others held their ground — each alone — firing into enemy thickets while fellow troops escaped and until the heroes, inevitably, were killed.

For decades, those three soldiers, and many like them, were denied the U.S. military’s highest decoration, veterans' advocates claim, simply due to the last names on their uniforms: Gomez, Pena and Vera.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor to 24 Army veterans — 17 Latinos (including Sgt. Eduardo C. Gomez, Master Sgt. Mike C. Pena and Pvt. Miguel A. Vera) plus five Jewish vets.

The ceremony ends a Congress-ordered review of old battlefield heroism potentially overlooked by past commanders due to ethnic prejudices.

But when it comes to that elite, gold-plated star — awarded for valor “beyond the call of duty” — some Latino veterans say such racial biases remain entrenched at the Pentagon.

“This recognition was long overdue. Too bad only three of the 24 are still living,” said Richard Valdez, 66, head of the Disabled American Veterans in California and a retired Marine.

“I suspect there are others” of Latino descent who are similarly worthy.

The latest recipients served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. All previously had earned the military’s second-highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross. Since the Civil War, fewer than 3,500 of the Medals of Honor have been granted. But some critics have long asserted the top commendation has been steered by ethnic favoritism.

U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Jose Rodela will receive the Medal of Honor Tuesday for his actions while serving in Vietnam.

In 1993, the Army contracted with Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. to study whether “racial disparity” had influenced the citation’s winners. Shaw researchers indeed found evidence of inequalities: No African-American soldiers, for example, had received the ribbon during World War II.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton granted Medals of Honor to seven black soldiers, six posthumously.

“Dead people can’t jump 10 yards to put a grenade under their body ... This gives you an idea of the discrimination Latinos encounter.”

In 1996, Congress directed the Army to review the combat feats of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who’d earned the Distinguished Service Cross during World War II and “determine whether any … should be upgraded.”

In 2000, Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to 22 Asian-Pacific Americans, including Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.

“We’re kind of an afterthought, like everyone else had to get theirs first,” said Ruben Treviso, 67, a retired Army sergeant who served in Vietnam during 1971 and 1972. He’s also past national director of the American GI Forum, an organization that addresses discrimination against Hispanic veterans. “It was like, ‘Let’s throw a couple of Mexicans in there,’ so the Latinos got included.

“There’s been racism that Latinos encounter in receiving the Medal of Honor. And it’s still ongoing. A lot of guys (in the military, particularly in the higher ranks) don’t think we can speak English. They think we’re all immigrants,” added Treviso, who was born in the United States in lives near Los Angeles.

A poster child for their modern argument is Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta. According to five of Peralta’s fellow Marines, he fell onto a live grenade in 2004, absorbing the blast and saving them as the unit was checking houses in Fallujah, Iraq. Peralta, 25, was killed. Those five battle buddies nominated Peralta for the Medal of Honor.

Three consecutive defense secretaries, including Chuck Hagel, have reviewed medical examiners’ reports and ruled Peralta had — just a second before falling — been mortally wounded by enemy fire, leaving him incapable of pulling the grenade under his body.

But those pushing Peralta’s candidacy continue to blame that Pentagon stance on politics. Peralta, born in Mexico, had entered the United States illegally to attend school in San Diego. He joined the Marines when he got his legal residency card.
“Dead people can’t jump 10 yards to put a grenade under their body,” Treviso said. “This gives you an idea of the discrimination Latinos encounter.”

Hagel announced Feb. 21 he would not reopen the nomination for Peralta, stating that a review of the “totality of evidence” did not meet the “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for the award.

“The Department is fully committed to recognizing our combat heroes — regardless of race or gender,” Pentagon spokesman Nathan Christensen said via email Monday. “Diversity is a source of strength for the Department of Defense. Diversity encompasses more than race and gender — we seek to include diversity of thought, background, language, culture and skills.

“Our force comes from a diverse populous, and certainly our military is better served when it reflects the nation it serves,” Christensen wrote. “Specifically, in the case of the Medal of Honor – the standard for the Medal of Honor is extremely high, as one would expect.”

But for some Latino veterans, the Peralta case continues to embody the ethnic bias they say they see atop the military.

In California, Valdez believes he understands the protective instinct Peralta felt in his final seconds. He, too, once dove onto what he thought was a live grenade — in Vietnam in 1967, he said. He quickly realized, however, that the grenade that had landed near his feet had simply become unscrewed from a fellow Marine’s belt and was not armed.

“My gunnery sergeant grabbed me by my flak jacket and said a few choice words, basically, ‘Idiot. Get back in line.’ And that was it,” Valdez said.
Did he even get a slap on the back that act of bravery?

“Uh, no, just a swift kick in the ass,” said Valdez, who reached the rank of corporal and later earned a Purple Heart medal after being shot in the knee. “I wouldn’t say (if that sergeant's reaction was racially motivated). I’d just be speculating on ‘what ifs.’ At the time, it never entered my mind. I was just glad it didn't go off.

“Some vets I've mentioned this story to comment in wonderment why, at the very least, I wasn't awarded a commendation medal. My reply has been: ‘You know how that goes: (stuff) happens.’ "




This is a depressing story. I wouldn't want to join the military. The soldier's turn of mind has to be one of submission at all times. Then when unfair actions are taken, there is no recourse short of making a huge complaint and maybe being booted out as a result. Within the chain of command the superior officers get away with following their own judgments and, yes, sometimes treating individuals unequally.

The turn of mind among military people is usually very “conservative” about race, sexual orientation, gender and even church affiliation. That should be no longer be the case, as society in general is more open now that the Civil Rights movement has had time to settle into place. It seems that there are new bigots being born every day, though, and they are more likely than some other citizens to be drawn toward the army, so stereotypes and discrimination continue to rule the atmosphere.

It's not surprising, therefore, that Jews, Latinos, Blacks and Gays will tend to be given short shrift. Luckily I'm white and protestant so I've never been discriminated against. I want to say that I never have discriminated against anyone for those reasons, either. I look toward a future when I no longer hear stories like this one.




Egypt Leader Writes Detained Journalist's Family – ABC
CAIRO March 18, 2014 (AP)

In a rare gesture, Egypt's interim president has written to the family of an Australian journalist being tried on terrorism charges for his work with Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera, saying he would to push to expedite the case.

Peter Greste, detained with three other Al-Jazeera English journalists, stands accused of endangering national security and aiding a terrorist organization along with 17 others in the case.

"I would like to assure you in my capacity as president of Egypt, that I will spare no effort to work towards the speedy resolution of the case, in a fashion consistent with the law and that guarantees the reunion of the family in the near future," Adly Mansour wrote in the letter, seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday.




On an upbeat note, this story finds a state leader making a personal outreach to this journalist's family. He appears to be promising the release of the journalist “consistent with the law.” Wikipedia says this about Mansour, who seems to have a humanistic side to his personality.

“On 3 July 2013, Mansour was named interim President of Egypt following the ousting of Mohammed Morsi in the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état subsequent to the 2012–13 Egyptian protests. His appointment was announced on television by the minister of defense Abdul Fatah al-Sisi.[16] Earlier, there was brief confusion as to who exactly was appointed interim president, with some sources suggesting it was the former chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Maher El-Beheiry. Mansour was sworn in on 4 July 2013.[9]

He restored the position of the Vice President, which was abolished with the adoption of the current Constitution on 26 December 2012, and nominated opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei to the post on 7 July 2013. On 8 July, Mansour issued a decree that proposed the introduction of amendments to the suspended constitution and a referendum to endorse them, followed by national elections.[17] On 9 July, Mansour appointed the economist Hazem el-Biblawi as prime minister.[18]

Mansour made his first trip abroad as Interim President on 8 October 2013, to Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the ousting of Morsi.[10]

On 19 September 2013 President Mansour announced that he won't run for presidency saying that the government is waiting for the 50-member Constitutional[clarification needed] to finish its work, to finalize the draft constitution, to address the differences in views, and to reach a constitution that expresses all classes and orientations of the people, as well as the institutions of the civil society."




Europe's EFTA Bloc Halts Trade Talks With Russia – ABC
STOCKHOLM March 18, 2014 (AP)


A Norwegian official says Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have suspended joint trade talks with Russia because of Moscow's intervention in Crimea.
The four countries are not in the European Union but negotiate some trade agreements together as a bloc called the European Free Trade Association.

EFTA has been working on a deal with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. But Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Eskil Sivertsen said Tuesday that the talks were put on hold in response to Russia's actions in Crimea. Iceland's Foreign Ministry confirmed the talks were suspended.

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a treaty to annex the Black Sea peninsula, where residents voted Sunday to secede from Ukraine in a referendum dismissed as illegitimate in the West.



Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are standing up in favor of the EU and US stance against Russia. That is encouraging. Maybe more nations will speak up, also. Trade isolation would be one of the most effective things that could be done to deter Russia's actions.