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The downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight last week by Russian separatist has renewed the debate of greater economic sanctions on Russia for its continued support for fermenting hostilities in Ukraine.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stated on Monday, “We also know — and we actually announced in the context of the sanctions regime that we were putting in place on Wednesday — that Russia continues to provide heavy weapons to these separatists by moving heavy weapons from Russia across the border into Ukraine.  We also know that the Russians are actively engaged in training separatists to use those weapons, including some anti-aircraft weapons.  In fact, the separatists have claimed some success on this front.  They have boasted in the last several weeks of shooting down three different Ukrainian aircraft.  So there’s a track record here.”

On Tuesday the New York Times reported Russia presented a combination of conciliation and bluster on Monday over its handling of the downed Malaysia Airlines jet, with President Vladimir V. Putin seemingly probing for a way out of the crisis without appearing to compromise with the West.

The Times continued to report two senior military officers forcefully demanded that the United States show publicly any proof that rebels fired the fatal missile, and again suggested that the Ukrainian military shot down the Malaysia Airlines jet despite the fact that Ukraine has not used antiaircraft weapons in the fight along its eastern border.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement, “We have called repeatedly on all parties to the conflict to stop the bloodshed immediately and begin negotiations. I believe that if military operations had not resumed in eastern Ukraine on June 28, this tragedy probably could have been avoided.”

Putin continued,” At the same time, no one should and no one has the right to use this tragedy to pursue their own political goals. Rather than dividing us, tragedies of this sort should bring people together. All those who are responsible for the situation in the region must take greater responsibility before their own peoples and before the peoples of the countries whose citizens were killed in this disaster.”

Putin even mentioned how he wants to see the end of this crisis, “For its part, Russia will do everything within its power to move the conflict in eastern Ukraine from the military phase we see today to the negotiating phase, with the parties using peaceful and diplomatic means alone.”

The New York Times reported President Obama delivered another rebuke of the Russian president from the White House lawn over the intransigence of the rebels toward the international investigation, hours before they agreed to more cooperation. In addition, an initial expert analysis of photographs of the airplane’s fuselage found that the damage was consistent with being struck by the type of missile that U.S. officials said was used.

Wall Street Journal reporter Carol Lee observed that the world is not satisfied with this White House’s present level of engagement in global affairs.

She added that Obama’s “reactive” foreign policy has created tension among America’s allies who are concerned about whether the United States will meet its commitments. Lee noted that much of the globe’s apprehension about America’s disengagement can be traced to Obama’s decision not to follow through with his “red line” in Syria.

“The decision to step back on that really was much more impactful than I think the White House realize at the time, and it’s still having reverberations,” she added.

The president has to be more engaged in the crisis and start putting more pressure on Putin, as the crisis will not go away it will only simmer for a bit then flare up again.

The time has come for strategic action by the president.