Obama: no cold war over Crimea
US president insists military
solution not an option, saying pressure and diplomacy are the way
forward in Crimea dispute
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- EU leaders ask Obama to export more shale gas
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Obama delivers withering civics lesson to Putin
Barack Obama: no cold war over Crimea
US president insists military solution not an option, saying pressure and diplomacy are the way forward in Crimea dispute - The Guardian,
Barack Obama: 'We must
never take for granted the progress that has been won here in Europe.'
Photograph: Laurent Dubrule/Reuters
Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Black sea peninsula did not herald a new cold war, Obama told 2,000 people gathered in an arts centre in central Brussels in the big speech of his four-day trip to Europe.
But it was also clear that the Kremlin's actions in recent weeks had triggered a deep shift in western perceptions of Putin that would see Russia increasingly isolated internationally and exposed to a spiralling trade war with the west, depending on his next moves.
Putin's decision to redraw his region's borders had caused "a moment of testing", Obama said in a 40-minute speech on his first visit in office to Brussels."Bigger nations can bully smaller ones to get their way," he said. "We must never take for granted the progress that has been won here in Europe and advanced around the world, because the contest of ideas continues. And that's what's at stake in Ukraine today. Russia's leadership is challenging truths that only a few weeks ago seemed self-evident, that in the 21st century the borders of Europe cannot be redrawn with force, that international law matters, that people and nations can make their own decisions about their future."
It was clear Obama had no intention of being drawn into rash action or any kind of dangerous confrontation with Putin over Ukraine. "This is not another cold war that we're entering into. The United States and Nato do not seek any conflict with Russia," Obama said. "Now is not the time for bluster … There are no easy answers, no military solution."
While a major policy shift will take time to become effective, a transatlantic resolve was hardening to break European dependence on Russian energy supplies, with Obama for the first time stating that America's shale gas bonanza could be part of the solution for Europe's vulnerabilities.
But he also told the Europeans that they, too, would need to bear the political risks of fracking to develop their own shale deposits in order to build up indigenous energy reserves. At a 65-minute lunchtime US-EU summit, Europe asked Obama to share America's shale gas revolution by facilitating US gas exports to help counter the stranglehold Russia exerts on the continent's energy needs.
Putin, Crimea, and Ukraine have completely overshadowed Obama's long-scheduled visit to the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, and the US trip has brought into focus the way Russian behaviour is affecting transatlantic relations and western security policy in various areas from defence spending to energy to trade talks.
With Russia's gas monopoly, Gazprom, supplying a quarter of Europe's gas needs, and almost all of the gas in parts of eastern Europe, the energy issue has soared to the top of Europe's strategic agenda amid fears the Kremlin will be able to blackmail Europe if a threatened trade war erupts.
Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso, the presidents of the European council and the European commission, asked Obama to come up with measures that would favour European companies obtaining licences to export US shale gas in liquid form to Europe.
Obama agreed that the US could be part of the answer to Europe's problems, but stressed the need for Europe to diversify its sources of energy in order to make it less vulnerable to Russian blackmail, and also said that Europe should open up to fracking to develop its own gas supply.
"What we are asking for is a willingness of the US side to be more proactive on licences," said João Vale de Almeida, the EU ambassador in Washington who took part in the summit. "What has changed in the last few weeks is the realisation in America that energy is used as a political tool by Russia."
While European access to US shale gas is currently constrained by American licensing procedures, a successful conclusion of ongoing ambitious trade talks aimed at creating a transatlantic free trade area would also hasten European access to American deliveries.
EU officials said they wanted the trade talks finished by next year, while Obama pledged that he would ensure a successful pact would not entail any dilution of consumer or environmental standards under pressure from multinational corporations.
"The situation in Ukraine proves the need to reinforce energy security in Europe and we are considering new collaborative efforts to achieve this goal," the summit statement said. "We welcome the prospect of US liquid natural gas exports in the future since additional global supplies will benefit Europe and other strategic partners. We agree on the importance of redoubling transatlantic efforts to support European energy security to further diversify energy sources and suppliers."
As a result of redrawing Ukraine's borders, Russia "stands alone" in the world, Obama said earlier, predicting that the isolation would deepen unless Moscow opted to pursue a diplomatic solution of the crisis with Kiev.
Obama dismissed Russian arguments on Crimea, countering Moscow's claims that ethnic Russians in Ukraine had to be protected, saying there could be no parallels between Kosovo and Crimea, and also offering a qualified defence of US policy in Iraq. "There is no evidence, never has been, of systematic violence against ethnic Russians," he said. "Our approach stands in stark contrast to the arguments coming out of Russia these days."
Putin and Ukraine dominated the bulk of the 40-minute speech. Obama painted Putin as a menace to a law-based international system that had taken decades to establish after the second world war.
He laid the emphasis on pressure and diplomacy, but also made plain the limits of US engagement. "With time, so long as we remain united, the Russian people will recognise that they cannot achieve the security, prosperity and the status that they seek through brute force," he said. "Nor will Russia be dislodged from Crimea nor deterred from further escalation by military force."
On his visit to Brussels, the capital of the EU and also the headquarters of Nato, Obama also sought to stiffen European spines against Russia and pledged US security guarantees for east European allies on Russia's borders who are alarmed at the Kremlin's expansionist aims. "[Europe] ultimately has been an anchor of the international system that we've spent decades to build, and it's that international system that has been put at risk by Russia's recent actions," said a senior White House official.
- COPY http://www.theguardian.com
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