We will get to that. The president has a mind to address the referendum and talked about how the u. S. Is the first nation to impose sanctions to pressure russia. The u. S. Is limiting the travel and seizing assets from ukrainians and russians who have played a part in this Current Crisis. And the eu, European Union is moving according to the president in the same direction, same response hereof sanctions. Take a listen. I am confident we are moving forward together. United in the tomorrowation to oppose action that violate International Law. That includes standing up for the principal of state sovereignty. The proposed referendum would violate the constitution and violate International Law. Any discussion must include the legitimate government of ukraine. In 2014, we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of demonstratic leaders. While we take these steps, i want to be clear there is a way to resolve this prisz that suspects the interests of the Russian Federation as well as ukrainian people. Let the monitors into all of ukraine including cre mea including ethnic russians. We believe that russia has the opportunity now with the rest of us, but russia particularly has the opportunity now to make the right choices in order to deescalate. The United States also has choices to make. President obama has been clear that we cannot allow russia or any country to defy International Law with impunity. There is noplace in the community of nations for the kind of aggression and steps that we have seen taken in crimea and ukraine in these last days. Today as we announced, wey have taken steps and the state Department Also has taken steps in response to what occurred. We are putting in place tough visa restrictions on a number of officials and individuals. In parts of the world, message, i want to have a big discussion on this. At the white house, jim acosta, host of the situation room with wolf blitzer, standing by in washington. Our chief correspondent and our chief political analyst gloria borger. We have been watching every minute of how this is so quickly developed over the last several days, weeks even. And really addressed the issue of a proposed referendum in ten days. Clearly saying it would violate the ukrainian constitution and International Law. Thats right. I think because these developments are so fast moving, the president was almost forced to address that one particular item at the briefing within the last hour. The possibility that crimea could vote to join russia, that was something that this white house had to weigh in on. I can tell you from having conversations from the officials all week, they have been giving the indication and the president basically said so at the podium a few minutes ago, they are not giving up crimea. They will not become part of russia as a result of this crisis. You heard the president say that would be a violation of International Law and a violation of ukraines constitution. The International Community would not stand for it. They asked the same thing. Is there any way crimea would be given up as a way out of the crisis. You heard john kerry across the atlantic say the same thing. They had to get it out of the way. The other thing is we sword of went after it on a couple of different occasions and try to figure out what they erupt to. They are saying they havent identified individuals and targets as of your point. They pulled out the tool kit and that kit is available to start imposing sanctions on individuals and entities. Russian and ukrainian involved in destabilizing the situation in crimea and everybody was asking what about putin . Is he being name and targeted . They would not say that, but we understand thats not what they have in store. I think this could be the first wave. I want to get to what john kerry said. Coming to you in a minute, i was listening to your conversation post obama talk. In the Briefing Room, specifically with former american diplomat nicholas burns, when it comes to the referendum, the president followed up and said if they violate International Law, the response will remain firm. That sounded nebulous to me. They are holding back on the specifics and as jim acosta noted, they havent released names of individual russians who will be targeted and have assets frozen if they have assets in western banks. A lot of russian businesses have operations in europe and in the United States. They are not naming those. That would be the next step. They a pose sanctions on entities from iran or syria. They name names and Name Companies and they go after them. They try to make life as difficult as possible. That would be the next step hovering over the russians. Having said that, if you do that to the russians, you have to expect putin will retaliate in kind. The whole escalation that is making the germans especially and others very nervous because as you know and all of our viewers know, they get so much energy from russia and the pipe lines that go across ukraine. If that stops, the economic recovery that we have seen could be slowed down dramatically. Elise on the phone in rome, the first question you asked him was whether or not under any continue the u. S. Would accept this referendum in ten days in crimea. What was his response . Brooke, you have to make a distinction whether the u. S. Would accept a referendum or the referendum as it stands. Crimean people would vote on a referendum to join russia. What secretary kerry was saying and the officials have been saying privately, all ukrainians would have to agree. The government would have to be involved in the setting of the referendum. This is the conundrum that the u. S. Finds itself in. They want to protect the integrity and sovereignty of ukraine, but they are recognizing that the crimean people have an association with russia. You hear secretary kerry emphasizing the whole time that crimea is a very special interest for the russians. We want to make sure that the interests are protected and their occurrence are late. I dont think you are going to hear the u. S. Say as jim was saying, we are going to give crimea to the russians. Any way you slice it, when this is over, each if you go back to the status quo, this is it used to be part of russia. It kind of is and has been and will effectively be a de facto russian territory. Your followup when we show the pictures of the russian cowner part from russia, saying basically, do you feel misled by him. I would love for you to give context. Secretary kerrys answer was listen, we talked a lot and we are either laughing or disagreeing. Do you think these conversations they have been having, are they effective . Its hard to ignore the results. Even today, the day when you have this announcement saying the preference is still the diplomatic path. He noted while the president issued this order, it hasnt been acted on yet. The preference remains talks and discussions. You can bring not only the allies on board, but get the russians involved and so on. As of yet, the talks are not working. They are talking about talks. The secretary said he still has not found Common Ground with the u. S. Or with the european allies. Secretary kerry has been a priority to get the rugs sitting down with the ukrainians. He with the counterpart has been taking him on the plane from kiev to paris hasnt happened. They are working on the format of what the talks would be. As the talks continue, the facts on the ground as we said a number of times get further established. This is a pattern and a strategy that russia used before with other territories and countries in the near abroad in georgia. You had the invasion and now two provinces in effect under russian control. They have a province in countries we never talk about on the air that is disputed now. Because you have the provinces and the territories disputed, that makes it difficult for the countries to do things like join the eu or nato or etc. As elise referred to, you have the facts on the ground and no matter where we end up, russia exerted getting greater control over the region of crimea that makes it difficult for ukraine to enter into other agreements that many of the people may want to do. Exercise the right to do. You are sitting there in washington and listening to the conversation. What do you make of all of this . I think the administration sort of has a double whammy on its hands. The allies are not united about the sanctions and you have this proposed referendum in crimea. If it were to take place, it would no doubt say yes, we want to be part of russia. The administration found itself in a position to have to come out and sort of try and put the jeannie back in the bottle and say no, you cant do that. That would be a farce. It would be unconstitutional, etc. I think the administration is in a difficult situation right now. Putin sort of sitting there and even if there is an ambiguous result in crimea, it sort of is what it is. What it is is if putin has gotten what he wanted. Its a fascinating op ed. Regarding putin, whether or not he is winging it and whether this was a reaction to what happened within ukraine and whether or not this is entirely strategic and the pros and cons of taking it that way. We will have that discussion later. Thank you soechlt jim acosta and wolf blitzer and jim and elise. Thank you all. Other developments in the crisis in ukraine, the scudled warship now blocks ukrainian vessels from leaving a harbor. Ukraines ministry of defense saying now seven of the ship are trapped. As these pro and aspect russian protests continue in ukraine. U. S. Warship is steaming towards the black sea as well. This missile destroyer is taking part in already planned naval exercises with romania and bulgaria. Right now you have the house and the Senate Working on laws to publicly condemn the president s moves on crimea. One bill calling for spelling russia from the g8. We have much more on the crisis there. There is one person who could be key in solving this. Why the german chancellor Angela Merkel has one thing all the other leaders dont. Later, if the situation looks familiar. It is. We touched on this a moment ago. What did we learn from the russian invasion of georgia in 2008 . Is history repeating itself . How can we stop it . We will talk to the man who is is at pentagon in the invasion. Stay here. Could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. S Everybody Knows that. Well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no ones around, it does make a sound . Ohhh. Ugh. Geico. Little help here. I needthats my geico Digital Insurance id card gots all my pertinents on it and such. Works for me. Turn to the camera. Ah, actually i think my eyes might ha. Next Digital Insurance id cards. Just a tap away on the geico app. She loves a lot of its what you love about her. But your erectile dysfunction that could be a question of blood flow. Cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moments right. 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Russian troops invade a sovereign nation claiming its designed to protect the citizens living there. They condemn the occupation. I am talking about georgia in 2008. They remain in control of the two areas of georgia you see in a minute. We will show you the two areas we have. The question now is this. There you have it. Will ukraine and specifically this area we keep talking about, crimea would suffer the same fate . Joining me now is the Vice President of the group and Deputy Assistant secretary of defense with european and nato policy during the invation a couple of years ago. Welcome. Nice to have you on. Thanks for having me. Just on the surface, does it lock like so far history is repeating itself . Absolutely. The same reasons as to why putin decided to do what he did in 2008 in georgia have been repeated in the crimea. You pointed out reading comments three goals. One, deter russia from innovating and reassure allies their security is guaranteed and russian gains must be rolled back and that didnt happen in 2008. The question with the Current Crisis is how do you roll back a man like Vladimir Putin . That is the Million Dollar question. Roll back was hard. We have not achieved it in georgia. They are annexed under russian control and all done with the guys or the justification that russia was protecting russian citizens. We are hearing the same in ukraine. The next ten days will be more interesting. I was listening to the commentary from your colleagues earlier. There is the that will be illegitimate in crimea. The tough part is we have to understand why he did what he did in georgia and here. He comes down to he is trying to reestablish Russian National pride. By sort of taking these areas, it shows that he and russia itself can be a player. Thats the thing. Its pride. You can talk strategy, but i keep going back to wondering if this has been so devastating, the collapse of the soviet union and about pride and ego. Is that really at the crux of this . They note in the recent book the conversations he had with president putin highlighted the fact that putin believes that we in the west department quite appreciate and understand how humiliate and devastated the russian people were after the collapse of the soviet union. The pillaging that the west did in the 90s of russia. He said to the secretary which again the secretary has written about is he believes russia has power to exert and hes never said whether its positive or negative. Its really to show the russian people that things and russia can be a player. Its uber simplifying hurt feelings and pride and maybe a little ego. How does one speak Vladimir Putins language . I dont know if this wave of sanctions that the administration and state department of proposal will do it. What will . If you want to speak putin language, you trade. Things that matter to putin. Stopping any further nato enlargement and the Missile Defense program in europe. Those are two things right at the top that matter most. Thats putin speak and what he wants. He wants to show he can deliver for his country and two, by trading things. He doesnt have a lot that he can trade with us. Its getting him to stop being a bad actor. There is no guarantee. Some of us in washington have been debating for the past few months when the ukraine crisis started in november. When it started in november, what is the post sochi, the post olympic putin going to be like. He needs to do something to show that he is a player. There is enough problems back home in russia. Economically. Infrastructure and health care. If he doesnt have a distraction, its pointed on him. He has to make hay somewhere else. You were there at the dod and we wanted to have you on again. Thank you so much. Appreciate your perspective. The people will have their say on whether to align with russia and next we will go live to the capital to hear all the controversy surrounding this upcoming vote. So i get invited to quite a few family gatherings. Heck, i saved judith here a fortune with discounts like safe driver, multicar, paperless. You make a mighty fine missus, mlady. Im not saying marks thrifty. Lets just say, i saved him 519, and it certainly didnt go toward that ring. Am i right . [ laughs ] [ dance music playing ] so visit progressive. Com today. I call this one the robox. Legs, for crossing. Feet. Splashing. Better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. If youre trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. Xeljanz tofacitinib is a small pill, not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz is an ra medicine that can enter cells and disrupt jak pathways, that comes with ra. 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