It is really a stretch to find validity in the Crimean extremists' position. There is nothing in any international law that justifies secession. There are treaties that govern the path of the Ukraine. That is a reality and just because the Crimeans are drumming up a faux government to coup their own government doesn't mean it is legitimate.
I don't want to hear how Viktor Yanukovich didn't abandon his country. He absolutely did. One might recall not very long ago Yulia Tymoshenko was imprisoned. She didn't run to Europe to prevent her capture and imprisonment. She stayed and allowed the Yanukovich government make fools of themselves. So, if Yanukovich thinks he can simply stir up chaos in the Crimea to serve his own purpose he could not be more wrong.
THERE ARE TREATIES, VIKTOR!!!!!!
Russia is welcome to run their military games wherever and whenever they want so long as it is made clear they are exercises. What really pisses me off is that these shenanigans are happening while the Paralympics are going on.
Russia needs to detangle this web of power with the Crimea it has supported over the decades. There is a reason why Russia is a signator of the treaties and it is to bring all issues of all the people to bear when problems need to be solved, however, those resolutions do not include separating the people into tiny regions of land based in ethnicity. That strategy only leads to greater instability and economic deterioration.
This is some of the most hideous stuff I have ever witnessed within the First World. There needs to be an understanding the signators work together as civilized nations do. The treaties are suppose to end any anarchy, not enhance it.
Viktor Yanukovich has set up very dangerous outcomes for the Ukraine. He allowed and encouraged the rise of Oligarch power structures that include armed camps. That is outrageous. He fully engaged in setting up the Ukraine for violence that would kill people in order to enforce him as supreme leader. I don't think so. Yanukovich was counting on The West simply looking the other way so he could carry on as he wants to including jailing and killing those that didn't please him. Where did he ever get the permission to build militias to intimidate and control the citizenry with the threat of death? And this man should be allowed to have influence now? I think not!
And for Russia's ranting about The West interfering, the answer is, "You are damn right they are!"
Reuters in Berlin
theguardian.com
Angela Merkel (click here) has warned Moscow it risks "massive" political and economic damage if it refuses to change course on Ukraine, saying western leaders are united in their readiness to impose sanctions on Russia if necessary.
The German chancellor, using her strongest language since the start of the crisis and removing any suspicion that Germany might seek to avoid a confrontation with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said his actions would lead to catastrophe for Ukraine and much more.
"We would not only see it, also as neighbours of Russia, as a threat. And it would not only change the European Union's relationship with Russia," she said in a speech in parliament. "No, this would also cause massive damage to Russia, economically and politically."
Merkel has acknowledged that her efforts to persuade Putin to negotiate via a "contact group" with the transition government in Kiev – which he accuses of ousting the Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych unlawfully – have failed and time is running out....
I don't want to hear how Viktor Yanukovich didn't abandon his country. He absolutely did. One might recall not very long ago Yulia Tymoshenko was imprisoned. She didn't run to Europe to prevent her capture and imprisonment. She stayed and allowed the Yanukovich government make fools of themselves. So, if Yanukovich thinks he can simply stir up chaos in the Crimea to serve his own purpose he could not be more wrong.
THERE ARE TREATIES, VIKTOR!!!!!!
Russia is welcome to run their military games wherever and whenever they want so long as it is made clear they are exercises. What really pisses me off is that these shenanigans are happening while the Paralympics are going on.
Russia needs to detangle this web of power with the Crimea it has supported over the decades. There is a reason why Russia is a signator of the treaties and it is to bring all issues of all the people to bear when problems need to be solved, however, those resolutions do not include separating the people into tiny regions of land based in ethnicity. That strategy only leads to greater instability and economic deterioration.
This is some of the most hideous stuff I have ever witnessed within the First World. There needs to be an understanding the signators work together as civilized nations do. The treaties are suppose to end any anarchy, not enhance it.
Viktor Yanukovich has set up very dangerous outcomes for the Ukraine. He allowed and encouraged the rise of Oligarch power structures that include armed camps. That is outrageous. He fully engaged in setting up the Ukraine for violence that would kill people in order to enforce him as supreme leader. I don't think so. Yanukovich was counting on The West simply looking the other way so he could carry on as he wants to including jailing and killing those that didn't please him. Where did he ever get the permission to build militias to intimidate and control the citizenry with the threat of death? And this man should be allowed to have influence now? I think not!
And for Russia's ranting about The West interfering, the answer is, "You are damn right they are!"
Reuters in Berlin theguardian.com
Angela Merkel (click here) has warned Moscow it risks "massive" political and economic damage if it refuses to change course on Ukraine, saying western leaders are united in their readiness to impose sanctions on Russia if necessary.
The German chancellor, using her strongest language since the start of the crisis and removing any suspicion that Germany might seek to avoid a confrontation with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said his actions would lead to catastrophe for Ukraine and much more.
"We would not only see it, also as neighbours of Russia, as a threat. And it would not only change the European Union's relationship with Russia," she said in a speech in parliament. "No, this would also cause massive damage to Russia, economically and politically."
Merkel has acknowledged that her efforts to persuade Putin to negotiate via a "contact group" with the transition government in Kiev – which he accuses of ousting the Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych unlawfully – have failed and time is running out....
