Secretary of State Kerry has issued another ultimatum to Russia. Susan Crabtree reports in The Examiner:

Secretary of State John Kerry warned of serious repercussions forRussia on Monday if last-ditch talks over the weekend to resolve the crisis in Ukraine failed to persuade Moscow to soften its stance. (snip)

“There will be a response of some kind to the referendum itself,” Kerry said. “If there is no sign [from Russia] of any capacity to respond to this issue ... there will be a very serious series of steps on Monday.”

“Our hope is to have Russia join in respecting international law. ... There is no justification, no legality to this referendum that is taking place,” he said. “The hope is that reason will prevail but there is no guarantee of that.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and a top critic of President Obama's foreign policy, asked what the administration would do if Russian forces advance farther into the eastern area of Ukraine, and the new government in Kiev asks the U.S. for weapons to fight the Russians.

Kerry responded carefully, saying “we have contingencies – we are talking through various options that may or may not be available.”

“Our hope is not to create hysteria or excessive concern about that at this point in time,” he said. “Our hope is to avoid that, but there's no telling that we can.”

Cliff Thier translates:

Ooooh. We're going to take a really extra very serious series of steps to get to a decision about possibly having a meeting to consider whether or not to ask the United Nations to appoint a commission to recommend whether or not to hold a conference on the dangerous precedent of doing absolutely nothing or holding our breath until we all turn blue.

Meanwhile, while Putin was laughing his head off, the leader of the free world was in the GAP the other day buying blouses for his wife and daughters.