World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[SampanViking]

And I agree. The spin being placed on it is farcical. Putin needs the Ukraine, its considered a major step back to prestige for Russia. And a benchmark for his legacy. He would have offered the moon for the Ukraine. The EUs counter offer was a "yah sure whatever"

Really? is that the way the story is currently spinning in your neck of the woods?

I think I see things very differently indeed. I have seen a full throttle, full spectrum drive for a colour revolution II and it looked pretty damn likely to win for much of the last couple of weeks. You have had senior EU officials throwing their weight around in official circles, with others taking the platform with the opposition, working up the crowd and of course a compliant media on hand at every moment, clearly backing the opposition.

Remember when the going was tough, Yanukovych took the plane to Beijing and it was only after that trip that he went to see Putin in Moscow.

If the EU did not have a sensible offer to put on the table, it is because they did not think they would need one and that there media backed, rent a mob, people power, Colour Revolution II (Hollywood loves a Franchies) would simply sweep Yanukovych away for a second time. Maybe they figured he would fold at the outset and not dare to refuse to sign and release Timoshenko, which of course is what brought the mob out in the first place.

No this is an almost perfect rerun of Syria in August, where a well rehearsed and carefully choreographed performance, suddenly all goes horribly wrong.

 

[B.I.B.]

Now the Indian government has transferred Devyani to their UN staff. So now there is no question that she enjoys full diplomatic immunity, the US has no choice but to release her soon.

The Indian government promoted her just to save face? I'm not to sure if she is a suitable person for such a posting.

 

[Equation]

Really? is that the way the story is currently spinning in your neck of the woods?

I think I see things very differently indeed. I have seen a full throttle, full spectrum drive for a colour revolution II and it looked pretty damn likely to win for much of the last couple of weeks. You have had senior EU officials throwing their weight around in official circles, with others taking the platform with the opposition, working up the crowd and of course a compliant media on hand at every moment, clearly backing the opposition.

Remember when the going was tough, Yanukovych took the plane to Beijing and it was only after that trip that he went to see Putin in Moscow.

If the EU did not have a sensible offer to put on the table, it is because they did not think they would need one and that there media backed, rent a mob, people power, Colour Revolution II (Hollywood loves a Franchies) would simply sweep Yanukovych away for a second time. Maybe they figured he would fold at the outset and not dare to refuse to sign and release Timoshenko, which of course is what brought the mob out in the first place.

No this is an almost perfect rerun of Syria in August, where a well rehearsed and carefully choreographed performance, suddenly all goes horribly wrong.

How can Timoshenko be such a threat, didn't the Orange Revolution failed? In the end wouldn't the people of Ukraine would've remember that?

 

[Equation]

The Indian government promoted her just to save face? I'm not to sure if she is a suitable person for such a posting.

Could it be that she is a spy for the Indian government? That could explain why the NYPD did such a quick arrest and search on her?

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

No the media is on the "Blackmail" "Gas prices politics" line. Where its all because Russia threatened to freeze the Ukrainian population.
forgetting the critical factors of economy and population and pushing the rhetoric of failing of freedom and democracy.
In reality the situation is both sad and sickly comical. Same for your spin as well. The situation is that the Ukraine was given a real offer, from Putin and then a almost bizarre offer from the EU. The locals around the capital who are more European favored the European offer feeling a opportunity to rejoin Europe, but others of more Russian inclination came out to protest. And then counter protests and violence on the street. The European envoy's then tried to get the crowds to there side.
but still there was and should have been never any real doubt what would happen. And each player has their roles.
In the end the Ukraine chose what is the best deal they could have gotten.

 

[AssassinsMace]

Ironic Obama wants to snub the Sochi Olympics because of Russia's anti-gay laws yet now is doing damage control over this scandal with the Indian diplomat where that country just passed anti-gay legislation and no one is saying a word today even the media who are cheering Obama's action against Russia on the games.

 

[Blackstone]

Ironic Obama wants to snub the Sochi Olympics because of Russia's anti-gay laws yet now is doing damage control over this scandal with the Indian diplomat where that country just passed anti-gay legislation and no one is saying a word today even the media who are cheering Obama's action against Russia on the games.

As Rochefoucauld said, hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue, so there's nothing strange about it in International Relations.

 

[shen]

The Indian government promoted her just to save face? I'm not to sure if she is a suitable person for such a posting.

oh, they are going to do more than promote her. mark my word, as soon as she is released and returned to India, she is going to be a candidate in the upcoming general election. but first, India is going to make Kerry apologize a few more times.

 

[mr.bean]

Ironic Obama wants to snub the Sochi Olympics because of Russia's anti-gay laws yet now is doing damage control over this scandal with the Indian diplomat where that country just passed anti-gay legislation and no one is saying a word today even the media who are cheering Obama's action against Russia on the games.

well there's no love lost between putin and Obama. after the stunt putin just pulled in Syria it's no surprise Obama isn't exactly crazy to attend the Sochi Olympics. Russia's anti gay laws is a perfect excuse to ditch.

 

[Equation]

It looks like John Kerry to the rescue.

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Secretary of State John Kerry was pulled into an increasingly heated diplomatic row after an Indian consular official working in New York was arrested, strip searched, and accused of paying a housemaid slave wages.

The treatment of India's Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade has infuriated India and today a spokesman for Kerry said he "empathizes" with the woman and "expressed his regret."

"As a father of two daughters about the same age as Devyani Khobragade, the secretary empathizes with the sensitivities we are hearing from India about the events that unfolded after Ms. Khobragade's arrest, and in his conversation with National Security Adviser Menon he expressed his regret, as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship with India," the State Department said in a statement today.

Kerry struck the conciliatory tone after Khobragade was handcuffed last Thursday by the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service which placed the diplomat in a "general population" cell alongside drug addicts.

The marshals concede she was strip searched, which is standard for inmates.

"It was truly by the book," said a spokeswoman for the Marshals.

Khobragade is accused of submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for an Indian woman working as her housemaid in her New York City home. Federal prosecutors accuse Khobragade of filing documents saying she would pay the woman $4,500 a month, but instead paid her only $573 a month, a paltry $3.31 an hour, well below the U.S. minimum wage.

Khobragade said through a lawyer, and in an email published today in India, that she was protected from prosecution under diplomatic immunity. She claims she was unlawfully arrested and searched.

She appeared in court last week when she pleaded not guilty to the charges. She was released on $250,000 bond.

The arrest raised the ire of Indian politicians that the female diplomat was strip searched and jailed with common criminals. In retaliation, they called for an investigation into the salaries of Indian domestics working in the homes of U.S. diplomats assigned to India. In addition, police today also removed the anti-terror barriers outside the U.S. embassy in Delhi, a move many saw as retaliatory.

The State Department maintains that Khobragade does not have fully diplomatic immunity, but only consular immunity from prosecution with respect to acts she performs as part of her job.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report