Crisis in Crimea

[SirEmilCrane]

Not likely to go into a full shooting war, no one is that stupid, but if it does escalate I wouldn't count Ukraine out. Observers were highly critical of the Russian Army's performance in Georgia and Ukraine has a much bigger military than Georgia does. The Russian Army is also in a bit of a transitional phase at the moment.

Regardless I would not like to see this escalate but the statements the Russian government is putting out remind me of 2008.

EDIT: Things are worse than I thought, apparently people in the Crimea are being offered Russian citizenship, this is right out of the Russian Play book

[Falcrack]

So why did Krushchev ever sign away the Crimea to Ukraine in 1954? I don't understand what his motivation was. Granted when it was all part of the Soviet Union it probably made little difference, unlike now. Yeltsin should have made more of an effort to have it be part of Russia back in the early 90s, when the Soviet Union broke up. Now, it looks like many may pay for the mistake.

[Yakhont]

Probably drunk

[Count]

Today is anniversary
February 28, 1924 U.S. Intervention in Honduras

[Cheesehead]

So why did Krushchev ever sign away the Crimea to Ukraine in 1954? I don't understand what his motivation was. Granted when it was all part of the Soviet Union it probably made little difference, unlike now. Yeltsin should have made more of an effort to have it be part of Russia back in the early 90s, when the Soviet Union broke up. Now, it looks like many may pay for the mistake.

Kruschev was Ukrainian by birth and did a lot of early party work there. That, and at the time it didn't matter since Ukraine was part of the USSR which meant that very little actually changed when it happened and everyone figured they'd be around a long while.

[Bryan]

Lets just prep our military....UKRAINE wants to break away? What a coincidence.....

Russia, you don't have to do this, either way, neutral countries got something good on TV.

[Suriel]

According to latest news, two airports in Symferopol and Sevastopol are now controlled by pro Russian forces.
Sevastopol airport is controlled by Russian military, Symferopol by militia forces.

[Rorschach]

Why, Russia, why?

It's not like there was a real actual threat if death to the Russians in the Crimea, which could have justified Russian involvement to defend them.

This is just aggression in the face of a new regime they hate.

[Kin-Luu]

Why, Russia, why?

It's not like there was a real actual threat if death to the Russians in the Crimea, which could have justified Russian involvement to defend them.

This is just aggression in the face of a new regime they hate.

Or to teach the west a lesson.

[DeuZerre]

Don't be so paranoid... It's simply military pragmatism: Crimea has the only naval base that can send ships to the black sea, so they don't want to lose it. If Crimea declares its independence from the rest of Ukraine and then joins Russia, not much could be done, and that's what Russians are hoping for. I don't think they really care about Ukraine that much, just like they don't like Syria that much but they also have a base (sorry... "Facility") in Tartus they don't want to lose.

Which is almost certainly the main reason why Europe and (according to some) the US wanted to "seduce" Ukraine out of Russian influence.

Georgia was to remind that "Russia Stronk". Crimea is most probably to save what's salvageable while Ukrainian Government is is a messy state.