You're just conveniently ignoring that this isn't really a Crimean call for self-determination--It's the voice of Russian nationalists speaking for Crimea.
A group of elderly ladies had set up tables to recruit for the “self-defence force”, in front of a Soviet flag. One of them, Natalya Vallanova, said: “We are looking for volunteers to defend our homeland. Every man is welcome, in fact, women should also take part, be active.”
The only women activists to turn up soon, however, were topless, from the group Femen . The elderly ladies turned on them with fury, lashing out with fists, feet, handbags. The protesters were saved from a prolonged beating by former soldiers, in Cossack hats, who carried them off to the police.
Putin's next step is to declare that not only will Russia monitor the elections but will also be responsible for counting the votes to ensure fairness.
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Wonder what the EU leaders are gonna come up with?
Fern
and good sir, they are 70% of the population. why should that voice not be heard. They have been a autonomous republic for a while and they called for Russian help when they felt that their right as a republic was going to be jeopardized when the takeover happened in Kiev.
why do you have dissonance when a replublic of people ask another nation for help. dont they have their lives, families to protect
Citing economic and national security woes, more than a dozen European nations are ramping up pressure on Washington to open wider its federally restricted spigot of natural-gas exports.
The countries, which primarily include Eastern European nations heavily dependent upon Russia for their energy supplies, are working with a Washington-based government-affairs firm to launch a lobbying coalition in the next month with American energy companies.
You've got 10 family members in your house. I show up with my posse, ship grandma and grandpa off to the old folks' home, send your two kids off to boarding school in a country of my choosing, and your 3 most able-bodied siblings off to a labor camp to make socks for me and my posse.
So now I bring my posse of 3, plus 4 more homies form my neighborhood, with their chickens and pigs, declare all humans only need 10 square feet of living space and this is the kind of life that any true comrade would need, and proceed to appropriately partition your property thus. Of course, the chickens live in our house. Remember, it is our house now. No one owns it.
5 years later, who is to say that 70% majority opinion of that house is not a fair representation of the the opinions of the natives within? I don't like outside aggressors telling me that I should not be trying to cultivate corn in a northern climate, what do they no? So I'm going to call in a large cadre of homies to protect the 70% of us that feel threatened. We invited them, after all.
The U.S. had no problem with giving Albanians another state, after they pretty much in less than 100yrs went from ~60% to 90% of population in Kosovo. How is this any different?You've got 10 family members in your house. I show up with my posse, ship grandma and grandpa off to the old folks' home, send your two kids off to boarding school in a country of my choosing, and your 3 most able-bodied siblings off to a labor camp to make socks for me and my posse.
So now I bring my posse of 3, plus 4 more homies form my neighborhood, with their chickens and pigs, declare all humans only need 10 square feet of living space and this is the kind of life that any true comrade would need, and proceed to appropriately partition your property thus. Of course, the chickens live in our house. Remember, it is our house now. No one owns it.
5 years later, who is to say that 70% majority opinion of that house is not a fair representation of the the opinions of the natives within? I don't like outside aggressors telling me that I should not be trying to cultivate corn in a northern climate, what do they no? So I'm going to call in a large cadre of homies to protect the 70% of us that feel threatened. We invited them, after all.
you talk about the 15% muslims what about the majority or are you going to make a londonistan out of crimea as well with Sharia zones.
News from the "WTF?" category:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/vladimir-putin-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize/
Fern
Do you actually know anything about the history of the Crimean area or the Tatars?
"The deportation began on 18 May 1944 in all Crimean inhabited localities.[3] More than 32,000 NKVD troops participated in this action. The forced deportees were given only 30 minutes to gather personal belongings, after which they were loaded onto cattle trains and moved out of Crimea.[4] 193,865 Crimean Tatars were deported, 151,136 of them to Uzbek SSR, 8,597 to Mari ASSR, 4,286 to Kazakh SSR, the rest 29,846 to the various oblasts of Russian SFSR. At the same moment, most of the Crimean Tatar men who were fighting in the ranks of the Red Army were demobilized and sent into forced labor camps in Siberia and in the Ural mountain region.[4]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_the_Crimean_Tatars
Ethnic Russians did not become the largest population group in Crimea until the 20th century, after Stalin ordered the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1945.[73] Crimean Tatars since their deportation, were not permitted to return to Crimea, and became an international cause celebre,[74] until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The continuing return of Crimean Tatars to their homeland Crimea since the Soviet collapse is causing persistent tensions with Russians.[59]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_crisis
You can place that 'londonistan' crap and place it in the appropriate orifice.
what does that have to do with the issue on hand?? They collaborated with the germans and they got their just deserts. again they are only 12% of the crimean population, why are you not focusing on what the majority desire.
why do you not believe in democratic traditions? or democracy is only good when it suits you?
did I say I support Putin. I am supporting Crimean right to self determination. Why are you supporting Ukrainian Fascists?
There was only one thing missing: the enemy. Everyone in Crimea. and now across eastern Ukraine, is talking about Ukrainian fascists, but nobody has actually seen one. “We have not seen them here yet, but we have seen them on television,” said Stanislav Nagorny, an aide to the leader of a local “self-defence” force in Sebastopol. The confusion was understandable: Russian television had unleashed a propaganda campaign impressive in both its intensity and cynicism, stoking ethnic hatred and exacerbating historical divides, mixing half truths with outright lies. Right-wing extremists and nationalists did take part in the revolution, but they do not control the government.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA1Q1E820140308Aksyonov, whose openly separatist Russian Unity party received just four percent of the vote in Crimea's last parliamentary election, declared himself provincial leader 10 days ago after armed Russians seized the parliament building.
It's funny how the pro-Russian people try to delegitimize the Ukrainian govt and claim the Crimean one is valid:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA1Q1E820140308
So the group seizing power in Crimea had only 4% of the vote in the last election?
Bwuhahaha
Fern
It's funny how the pro-Russian people try to delegitimize the Ukrainian govt and claim the Crimean one is valid:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA1Q1E820140308
So the group seizing power in Crimea had only 4% of the vote in the last election?
Bwuhahaha
Fern
Yes, and so it's up to Crimea to decide which government they want to follow ad give legitimacy to. Referendum is coming up on March 30th. We'll just have to wait and see.
Secretary of State John Kerry warned his Russian counterpart on Saturday that steps by the Kremlin to annex Crimea would close any available space for diplomacy, a State Department official said.
At the same time, he made clear that continued military escalation and provocation in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine, along with steps to annex Crimea to Russia, would close any available space for diplomacy, and he urged utmost restraint, the official said.
Maybe I'm being biased, since I find Kerry to be a horribly weak leader, but why in the world is the US talking like this? If Russia crosses this "red line" wtf will we do?
"It is clear that Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further," Kerry said. "It is not appropriate to invade a country, and at the end of a barrel of a gun dictate what you are trying to achieve. That is not 21st-century, G-8, major nation behavior.
Maybe I'm being biased, since I find Kerry to be a horribly weak leader, but why in the world is the US talking like this? If Russia crosses this "red line" wtf will we do?
did I say I support Putin. I am supporting Crimean right to self determination. Why are you supporting Ukrainian Fascists?