RUSSIA IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Russia is showing no remorse about its annexation of Crimea.  In fact, it's setting very tough conditions to settle the whole Ukraine matter diplomatically.  From the left-wing Guardian of the UK: 

Russia set out a series of tough conditions on Sunday night for agreeing a diplomatic solution to the crisis over its annexation of Crimea, demanding that the US and its European partners accept its proposal that ethnic Russian regions of eastern and southern Ukraine be given extensive autonomous powers independent of Kiev.

Emergency talks between Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, and John Kerry, the US secretary of state, got under way at the Russian ambassador's residence in Paris after a day in which tensions over Ukraine deepened appreciably. Neither man made any substantive comment before the talks began. Suggesting it might be a long session, Lavrov told reporters: "Good luck and good night."

The meeting took place against an ominous backdrop of the massing of an estimated 40,000 Russian troops on Ukraine's eastern border and warnings from Nato and the Pentagon that the Russian military activity, ostensibly relating to routine exercises, was abnormal and could be a prelude to an invasion.

General Philip Breedlove, Nato supreme allied commander Europe and the head of the US military's European Command, was ordered back to his post in Brussels during a visit to Washington after Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, pointed to "a lack of transparency" from Russia about the troop movements. Unlike Moscow, Washington has said it will not resort to force to resolve the crisis.

COMMENT:  Yeah, great.  Obama already took the military option off the table, a brilliant act of strategy.  Why doesn't he just sign a surrender document now?  Of course we're averse to using military force, but you never give up that option.  It simply reduces your leverage, with nothing gained.  And Moscow knows that West European countries will be reluctant to impose serious sanctions on Russia because that may weaken their own economies.

So we'll "negotiate," and in the end Russia will get most or all of what it wants. 

Please notice that the word "victory" never passes Barack Obama's lips.

March 31, 2014