...if Russia continues its aggressive actions in Ukraine, including by sending troops, weapons, and financing to support the separatists, the costs for Russia will rise.



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It must have been like one of those annoying telemarketing calls, ringing up over and over saying the same thing. Today President Obama called Russian president Vladimir Putin to once again harangue him about the Russian "invasion" of Ukraine.One can even picture Putin, working out with weights or maybe wrestling a bear somewhere, being handed his cell phone and told, "it's Obama.""Aw man, tell him I'm not here...""You gotta take this call..."According to the White House "read out" of the call, Obama called Putin to, "reiterate... America’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," and to "underscore... the rising human toll of the fighting and underscore... the importance of President Putin seizing the opportunity presented by the ongoing discussions between Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine to reach a peaceful resolution," according to the White House release.Sounds a lot like langue de bois What is interesting about the above is the obvious: the United States -- the one indispensable nation according to Obama -- is not at all involved in the potentially breakthrough talks of the European quartet. Could it be that the Europeans have an idea how to solve a European problem without the US demanding obedience or threatening a world war?It was a new study released last week by a US defense industry-funded consortium of "think tanks" urging direct US military involvement in the Ukraine crisis that spooked Hollande and Merkel into action. While Washington had a collective swoon-fest over the report's conclusion that $3 billion worth of US weapons should be sent to US client regime in Kiev, the Europeans suddenly remembered their last 100 years of history and realized that the scorched earth left by the war that would likely follow US direct involvement would not leave Washington or L.A. charred, but Brussels. And Munich, Paris, and so on.So Merkel and Hollande decided to leave Obama home alone and travel to Kiev and Moscow themselves.The separate but related " Minsk 2 " talks today also proceeded without US involvement and seemingly produced another possibility for a pullback of heavy artillery on both sides.In other words, while Obama was reading from the same tired old script, the countries most affected by the unrest were trying to find a solution to the horrific conflict. In other, other words, US involvement is an impediment, not a catalyst for a positive outcome.All Obama could do is ring up Putin again and again threaten war. According to the White House read out, Obama threatened Putin:Again Washington's interventionists have led the United States down the path of isolation and irrelevance. The total war they demand over bankrupt, destitute, bleeding Ukraine, is being roundly rejected by US allies. The US empire, producing nothing but chaos , is perhaps finally recognized as being without clothes.