Obama vs. Putin - Ukraine Crisis Latest

The White House: Readout of Telephone call between President Obama and Putin on the Crisis in the Ukraine, " President Putin called President Obama today to discuss the U.S. proposal for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, which Secretary Kerry had again presented to Foreign Minister Lavrov at the meeting at the Hague earlier this week, and which we developed following U.S. consultations with our Ukrainian and European partners.  President Obama suggested that Russia put a concrete response in writing and the presidents agreed that Kerry and Lavrov would meet to discuss next steps.

President Obama noted that the Ukrainian government continues to take a restrained and de-escalatory approach to the crisis and is moving ahead with constitutional reform and democratic elections, and urged Russia to support this process and avoid further provocations, including the buildup of forces on its border with Ukraine.

President Obama underscored to President Putin that the United States continues to support a diplomatic  path in close consultation with the Government of Ukraine and in support of the Ukrainian people with the aim of de-escalation of the crisis.  President Obama made clear that this remains possible only if Russia pulls back its troops and does not take any steps to further violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.  President Obama reiterated that the United States has strongly opposed the actions that Russia has already taken to violate Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. ".

Lets Get Real:

Interesting, it was  Putin who called the Oval Office, has the economic sanctions started to work, is he worried that there might be harder sanctions, or is this just a bluff while his Army gets read to invade the East of Ukraine.   Is the Russian Army not quite ready fight a War in the Ukraine, are there internal pressures from Putin's rich friends for him to back off, God its like the Cold War, reading the smoke signals from the Kremlin.   This weekend could be interesting, either WAR on talk talk, this move by Putin might mean that he has flinched at the final move of an invasion, so many questions, not to many answers.