Russia are invading Ukrainian territory on the basis of a government change they dislike with very little evidence that it would result in repression. That isn't just making a knee-jerk assumption that they're in the wrong.

 

...after being asked to by an elected official in Crimea.

 

Is this really much different (so far) to the UK "invading"/protecting the Falklands in the 80s? The people of the Falklands didn't want to be taken over by what they saw as a repressive regime, Britain saw Falklanders as people they had a lot in common with, and so agreed to protect them (imo rightly). That's not a million miles away from what's going on here. The knee-jerk Western reaction seems to be based on an assumption that, just because us in the West wouldn't want to live in Putin's Russia (and to be sure I definitely wouldn't want to myself) that that means no-one would want to.

Edited March 2, 201411 yr by Danny

It is different to the Falklands Danny given that those islands are part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a British Oversea's territory and Crimea is part of Ukraine and not Russia. (Not to mention the fact that it was Argentina that did the invading....)

It is different to the Falklands Danny given that those islands are part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a British Oversea's territory and Crimea is part of Ukraine and not Russia. (Not to mention the fact that it was Argentina that did the invading....)

 

Yes, but to a large extent that's a pretty arbitrary distinction; as Suedehead and Arrs have said, many people in Crimea have always considered themselves to be Russian irrespective of what they might have been legally defined as.

Edited March 2, 201411 yr by Danny

Yes, but to a large extent that's a pretty arbitrary distinction; as Suedehead and Arrs have said, many people in Crimea have always considered themselves to be Russian irrespective of what they might have been legally defined as.

 

True, and that is why there should be a referendum to vote on whether Crimea should remain part of Ukraine or return to Russia. A DEMOCRATIC vote, not bullying and the threat of military action.

Putin what a sneaky Hitler lite

 

No idea why so many Russians LOATHE Europe and USA so much (seriously! their WINNING INSULT is 'well gtfo and live in europe then'. Yes, I WOULD rather live in Europe than in this craphole whatsyourpoint~) when the country becomes more West-like every day! Mucho delusional

 

Putin what a sneaky Hitler lite

 

No idea why so many Russians LOATHE Europe and USA so much (seriously! their WINNING INSULT is 'well gtfo and live in europe then'. Yes, I WOULD rather live in Europe than in this craphole whatsyourpoint~) when the country becomes more West-like every day! Mucho delusional

 

Bitch, how you can compare Putin with Hitler ? :angry:

Russophobia is the worse type from all human discriminations.

!!!

 

 

It's people like you, drowning in their own overflowing egos, tubs of hollow unreasoned obnoxious delusional self-worth and opinions that nothing outside of the paradigm you believe in and put yourself in the very center of should exist, that make this country absolutely unbearable to live in.

Moreover, is Russophobia even a THING?! If there are any prejudicies and fears against Russia and Russians in general they are based on nothing but facts.

 

Anyway, this discussion is going into the wrong direction and imma fix it right now~ (Trust me getting wound up by AlexDeRanged's comments oops)

Guys you can't imagine the amount of aggressive propaganda that is thrown through official Russian TV, Radio, Paper etc. It's unbelievable, I haven't seen this sort of things ever in my life.

 

And what is more shocking, the vast majority of Russians actually APPROVE the Crimea intervention (prime example of that you have just seen right above my and Pavel's posts). I advise all of them to be a part of that intervention (as soldiers) or send their children, husbands etc there. And then fight for them when they realise that no one is going to take care of their injured (or dead!) relatives if the war actually happens.

 

Rouble and our financial markets are tumbling down today, and when all those supporters come to shops and see the higher prices they probably won't realise why it did happen.

 

Crimea should indeed make a referendum about their future but that should be held by the parity of Ukranian/Russian/UK/US powers (as the countries that signed the Budapest agreement in 1994). And God help us that there won't be any provocations. Now anything can cause a massive outburst and war.

Edited March 3, 201411 yr by Arrs

Yanukovich is now WANTED in Ukraine omg

 

All the media outlets including VK's pages that 'promote' anti-war take on this matter are being closed down. Absolutely ridiculous. So much brainwashing going on - it's U N R E A L.

All the media outlets including VK's pages that 'promote' anti-war take on this matter are being closed down. Absolutely ridiculous. So much brainwashing going on - it's U N R E A L.

 

Would you leave that goddamn country already?

 

Putin is really putting Russian 20 years back in the past. I catched up with the Ukrainian events last night and what I thought was yet another manif gone wrong (I fail to follow the news sorry) deeply unsettled me as I couldn't see this happening in European soil anytime soon.

The way Russia is behaving is incredibly horrid, you'd think they left the soviet ways behind. If they really wanted to protect the Russian citizens in Crimea they would call out for a referendum not causing more tension in the area.

Well only 13 VK pages were banned and in some of them there were indeed some calls for terrorism. There are quite a lot of massive independent Internet sources that tell the news objectively and they aren't been closed (so far).

omg alexrange sometimes i wish you would jump back up ur mother

'Biggest European crisis of the century' according to Hague. I really wish I could disagree with him, everything going on over there is unnerving me more and more as each day goes by. Crimea seems comparatively simple if one were to do things the democratic way (which of course they're not) but everything I've read about the rest of the Ukraine seems like a disaster waiting to happen if Russia keeps pushing for influence there.

BBC News are reporting that Russia's Black Sea fleet have given the Ukrainian forces in Crimea until 5:00 am local time to surrender or face an all-out assault. It hasn't been confirmed by other sources as of yet but it is all deeply worrying.

BBC News are reporting that Russia's Black Sea fleet have given the Ukrainian forces in Crimea until 5:00 am local time to surrender or face an all-out assault. It hasn't been confirmed by other sources as of yet but it is all deeply worrying.

 

Seriously? :mellow:

 

So the protesters were right all along ...

 

Obviously no Western country currently has the power/ budget to really do anything, note how Russia is, for the first time since the Cold War, spreading its influence across the globe with bases planned in Nicaragua, Cuba, etc. The only way to go will be economic sanctions and how well will those work, especially with EE dependent on Russian gaslines?

 

I reckon Russia probably has its sights set on the east of Ukraine, Crimea included. After Georgia, I doubt Ukraine has the appetite to face war with Russia. Hopefully there's a peaceful solution and there COULD be, a democratic vote, but maybe Russia is flexing its muscles as a growing world power...

BBC News are reporting that Russia's Black Sea fleet have given the Ukrainian forces in Crimea until 5:00 am local time to surrender or face an all-out assault. It hasn't been confirmed by other sources as of yet but it is all deeply worrying.

 

srsly

 

The sad thing is that Putin is unlikely to stop until Crimea is under Russia's control. :(

The sad thing is that Putin is unlikely to stop until Crimea is under Russia's control. :(

 

Surely the easiest way for him to get Crimea back on Russian soil is to give a referendum to the people. They would most likely vote in favour of being annexed by mother Russia so all this hostility is severely unnecessary.

It's almost like he wants total control of Ukraine or something.