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It's obvious that Russia had imperialistic designs on the Ukraine.
They want to get that strategic area known as the Crimea.
It is a tad more complicated than that. Ukraine is the most important piece of strategic real estate that sits between east and west, it has been the focal point of several armed conflicts, including the two world wars and a never-ending economic and diplomatic war. Turn the Ukraine away from Russia and Russia is no longer a significant power. It cannot be overstated how important that land is, as a gateway to Russian territory and as the seat of Russia's naval power in the Black Sea, and of course vice versa as a gateway into Europe from the east. In American terms you might think of the Crimea as Alaska and Sevastopol like the Pearl Harbour naval base, except far far more important to Russia than those are to America. If the Russians took over either, how long do you think it would take for an American response?
After the Soviet Union fell and Moscow lost control of a huge amount of land and people (a lot of which the EU promptly gobbled up), a covert war for Ukraine started again, with the EU priming Ukraine with propaganda and setting up various organisations, flooding the place with money, buying influence with people and politicians, all to butter the country up for an alliance. This all gave birth to the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement, which had aspects of economic as well as political union, with some not insignificant military clauses. It would have shifted Ukraine unequivocally away from neutrality and into the Western camp. Russia responded quite frankly, chastising the EU for trying to grab Ukraine and offered Ukraine a very very generous counter deal to stay NEUTRAL and maintain the status quo.
When the President of Ukraine at the time decided - quite sensibly - to take the better deal offered by the Russians, he was "mysteriously" overthrown by a mob, the fact that the head of the CIA happened to be in Kiev at the time, along with John McCain and Victoria Nuland and a few important EU figures all egging on the mob is all completely above board...
The Crimea is a slightly separate issue than the grander Ukrainian pivot, the main problem being it is ethnically Russian, which the rest of Ukraine is not. The Crimean issue has been poorly had handled by the Ukrainian government, their lazy attempts to enforce language usage across the country, forcibly changing people's names to make them less "Russian" just making the situation worse. The people of Crimea tried to separate from Ukraine in the early 90s via democratic means and the Ukrainian government threatened them with violence. Despite all this, Russia made barely a whisper, where many other countries might have gone to war.
The annexation of Crimea and especially Sevastopol looks firstly like a last resort to maintain Russian security in that area and secondly as a warning shot across the bow of the NATO/EU ship, making it quite clear that further sneakiness will not be tolerated. Despite the President's overthrow being completely illegal and unconstitutional, the West and its controlled media says obviously the president Yanukovych was Hitler's 37th reincarnation, and the mob were valiant "freedom fighters" bravely trying to secure their freedom as a vassal state of the EU. While simultaneously condemning Putin's (Hitler no.38) illegal annexation as completely unprovoked, completely illegal, immoral and the beginning of a new Russian Empire.
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Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory, Farewell!
27 Jul 2016, 8:43 pm
