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I was confused by the claim that Kerry threatened "to expel Russia from the G8." I clicked the link and went to the other article, which had the following quote
by sdrothrock 13y ago
I was confused by the claim that Kerry threatened "to expel Russia from the G8." I clicked the link and went to the other article, which had the following quote from Kerry: "He is not going to have a Sochi G8, he may not even remain in the G8 if this continues."
Am I mistaken in assuming that the G8 is not under American control? At worst, Kerry could recommend that the US not take part in the Sochi-hosted G8, but that's it, correct?
I'm also confused by the writer's characterization of the situation in the Ukraine as "a crisis that can easily be contained if cool heads prevail."
If you drill down to the basics, any crisis could "easily be contained" if all parties involved are calm and willing to sit and talk indefinitely.
In this particular situation, it doesn't look like that would happen given that Ukraine is essentially in the middle of a civil revolt (war?) and there are a large number of parties who would have to be comfortable having some kind of draw-down talk.
- pedalpete 13y agoAustralia has also talked of removing Russia from the G8, which is now being called the G7, I'm sure just as a sign of the members being serious. I suspect all it takes is for G7 countries not to invite Russia to the meetings. They have been uninvited to the G20 meetings in Australia.
- sdrothrock 13y agoI'm still really confused because according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G8#Annual_summit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G8#Annual_summit, the next summit is supposed to be held in Sochi. Nobody's going to be able to uninvite Russia from their own summit, so if the US and Australia "remove" Russia and don't attend the summit, doesn't it just become a G6 (G8 minus the US and Australia)? In order to "remove" Russia, all seven countries would have to agree to not go to Sochi and also to have the summit somewhere outside of Russia.
- gregsq 13y agoAustralia is not in the G8. The G8 is the G7 plus one. G7 agree to roll back is the idea.
- pedalpete 13y agoYou are correct, my apologies. I'm still new to Australia. Australia is hosting the G20, and there is discussion here regarding Russia's role in the upcoming G20 meetings. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/ukraine-tony-abbotts-g20-summit-threat-to-russia-20140303-340gn.html http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/ukrain...