against cuba and it has not had any discernible effect on the regime. speaking of sanctions, perhaps the most important development this week is that german chancellor angela merkel who had been seeming to hang back when it came to economic sanctions now seems all on board the idea of tough economic sanctions against russia. in a speech to the german parliament this week, merkel said this. if russia continues on its course of the past few weeks, it will not only be a catastrophe for ukraine. this would also cause massive damage to russia economically and politically. let me ask you the question i was asking the two senators before. are we headed for a new cold war? it has been jarring to see this reversion to what we thought a cold war or even precold war scenario with tanks moving down country roads. with people disappearing who were critical of the regime.
the duma does what it is those make that happen we have to show long-term commitment to this, not some sort-term plan but long-term commitment. it will affect europe and the united states. without that, without that putin will continue to do this. he did it in georgia a few years ago. he moved into crimea. he will move into other places unless we show that lock-term resolve. i think the comment that secretary john kerry made is not helpful and knows a wishy washiness that we do not as a nation at this point need to show. we have commitments. you know this. we said we would protect the sovereignty of ukraine and our nation along with europe, the u.k. signed this, we need to protect ukraine and they gave up their nuclear weapons. what does that say to nuclear proliferation? this is a very important time for us. it is a defining moment for us
united states and the west have to respond. secretary of state john kerry says the united states will not accept the results, sanctions and other diplomatic measures are threatened. we turn to the leaders of the senate foreign affairs committee. from new jersey, chairman menendez and tennessee the top republican, bob corker. gentleman, we have the crimea rather dumb that will certainly vote to break away from the ukraine but new we have an incursion six miles into the ukraine, so how could we get president president to go? putin has start add game of russian roulette and the united states and the west have to be very clear in their response. he will calculate about how far he can go. that means having robust sanctions ready to go starting
we need similar strong movement now. we should not be saying to the ukrainians, don t bother us about women s. the question ought to be what kind of assistance do you need and we should be able to provide it. it shouldn t be military only. we have specific sanctions that are being authorized. let s go after specific individuals, let s have a plan, a strategy to ramp those up. if something happens in crimea today, there ought to be an accident relatively soon. if they take further steps, there ought to be further actions. we don t seem to have a strategy and a plan. let s be honest. election results will have an impact. if they annex crimea, which is a begin. this eliminates a million residence. that provides the pro moscow prime minister in his last election. there will be no democratically elected government of ukraine which will be pro moscow after crimea is taken out of the electoral equation inside
whether to break away from ukraine and join russia. we re joined by the senate foreign relations committee members. fighting constipation by eating healthier, drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? try dulcolax laxative tablets. dulcolax is comfort-coated for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on.