Good ol' sloppy Joe

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Ukraine on Monday to reassure its leaders that Washington has not forgotten the country (Moscow Times)

High bar there.

The streets of Kiev were shut down as a security precaution for Biden’s visit. Ordinary Ukrainians, however, were largely indifferent to the vice president’s arrival, and newspapers had little coverage ahead of his visit.

Keep up the good work. Note that Biden is supposed to have experience dealing with Slavs (SALT II, "lift and strike" Balkan strategy in the 90s, etc).

Obama was less than warm with Medvedev and Putin; now Biden is giving the impression that we'll "support" Ukraine in its NATO bids ("We are going forward, we have chosen a European path," - isn't Yushchenko just adorable?)-- hopefully they don't think "support" has anything to do with, y'know, aid- military or monetary.

Many observers say the combination of Russia’s base, Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, and Crimea’s mostly Russian-speaking population is a diplomatic tinderbox waiting to explode.

We'll get your back like we got Georgia's, no worries, man. And if the Russians turn off the gas again, oh, dude, we're so there.

It looks like the Ukrainians have come off their 2004 Orange Revolution high, though, so maybe they'll be smart enough never to buy into western promises. Otherwise it looks like all we've done this month is piss everyone off and set ourselves up to disappoint.

In other news, even Britney Spears is smart enough to keep her kids out of Russia.

After the St. Petersburg gig, where she played to 15,000 fans at the Ice Palace, Spears immediately left the country, deciding to spend the two nights before her Moscow show in Stockholm instead. A spokesperson in Moscow confirmed that she left the country between gigs.

There's almost too much warm fuzziness going around. My oh my.

Medvedev refuses to play nice; Obama confused

President Dmitry Medvedev pledged support for South Ossetia’s separatist leadership during a surprise visit Monday that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili condemned as Russia’s 'most immoral and shameful precedent in centuries.'

State television showed thousands of cheering Ossetians thronging the streets to welcome Medvedev, who is seen as a hero after the Russian military repelled Georgia’s attempt to seize the breakaway region by force last August.
...
Analysts said the timing of the trip was a slap in the face of U.S. President Barack Obama, who had expressed public support for Georgia during his visit to Moscow last week.
...
On Monday, Saakashvili said the timing of Medvedev’s trip was no coincidence.

“I do not know whether it was in response to the Nabucco summit, which is considered by them as their great diplomatic failure, or if it was a response to … Obama’s visit,” he said.

Gia Nodia, a political science professor at Tbilisi University, said Medvedev was certainly making a gesture to the West by visiting Tskhinvali. “Medvedev did not respond the day when Obama sent a clear message on Georgia, but now he is saying, ‘We do not care what Obama says,’” Nodia said by telephone from Tbilisi. (Moscow Times)

Screw global warming, I think it's getting a little chilly in here.

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