Ukraine - Victory, or A Lull Before the Storm?

The battle for Kiev may well be over, but is the battle for Crimea about to begin?

• February 22 at 4:43 pm

EXCERPTS:
The bloody, protracted protests in Ukraine seem to have achieved their goals: Yanukovych is gone, new elections are due, and Yulia Tymoshenko, a key figure in Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution, has been freed from prison. Ukraine looks as though it might have pulled back from the brink.

If only it were that simple.

While many in Kiev are celebrating today, the situation in some other parts of the country still appear tense. For an example, look toward Crimea. ...... Crimea, of course, is about as geographically far away from Kiev as you can get in Ukraine. A peninsula jutting into the northern tip of the Black Sea, the strategically located region has been conquered and fought over many times over the course of history. It was the site of much of the fighting in the Crimean War, for example.

From the 18th century on, the region was part of Russia, but that changed in 1954, when the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union passed it from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, a decision that is still controversial in some circles. Today the peninsula might still be a part of Ukraine, but in many ways it is separate from the rest of the country: It has its own legislature and constitution, for example, and it's still very Russian: Some 60 percent of the population is ethnically Russian, with the rest being Ukrainian or Crimean Tatars.



It appears that some members of this Russian community have regarded the events in Kiev with a mixture horror and opportunism: The chaos in Ukraine could finally be the region's chance to turn back to Moscow.

RFE/RL's Robert Coalson recently went to Crimea and spoke to members of the pro-Russian separatist movement there. One politician he spoke to had the novel idea of leasing Crimea to Russia in exchange for a cancellation of Ukraine's debt to Moscow.
......

Other politicians have expressed similar hopes. Volodymyr Konstantinov, the speaker of Crimea’s parliament, recently told lawmakers that the region may well secede if Ukraine's tensions begin to pull it apart. The parliament has also suggested that the region's constitution be amended to list Russia as the "guarantor" of Crimea's autonomy.

The situation is complicated by the fact that many Russians view Crimea as part of Russia: one recent poll found that 56 percent of Russians view Crimea as a Russian territory – a far larger percentage than the number who viewed Chechnya, inside Russian federation borders, as part of Russia (39 percent). A few days ago, a Russian official told the Financial Times that if Ukraine began to get more chaotic, they would step in to protect the ethnic Russians and the Russian navy base on the peninsula. “If Ukraine breaks apart, it will trigger a war,” the unnamed official told the newspaper. “They will lose Crimea first [because] we will go in and protect [it], just as we did in Georgia.”
......

The battle for Kiev may well be over, but is the battle for Crimea about to begin?

 

Thank you for posting this. That whole situation over there is quite interesting. I don't see why Ukraine wants to join the UE because IMO the EU is not the most stable at the moment. Now with Crimea the article stated that the majority identify as Russians. What to do??? Crimea would be land locked if it went back to Russia, I think that would cause issues. They could keep their autonomy as they have now and instead of being under Ukraine laws they could do Russia.

All I really am sure of is that the Olympics are now over and Mr. Putin no longer has to play gracious host. I think things are going be getting quiet interesting real soon. These people stole Putin's spotlight and he most likely is quite PO'ed.

 

The Ukraine is really 2 countries
North and West of the country tend to cater to European customers and tourists and the south and east, they service russian interests.

Right now the Ukrainians are flocking to Yanukovych's private 'Compound' and investigating where all the money that could have been used to support their country has gone.


I got to give the Ukrainians credit. They are pretty orderly, not looting nor destroying a darn thing.
Heck we have a hurricane, tornado or snow storm we bust in the window and grab the flat screen.








how about his boat in his vodka bottle shaped lake in his front yard.


To the citizens it's like a day at the museum.
so orderly.





In America, we'd steal the bathroom fixtures and light bulbs.
especially if they are the old incandescent kind.

 

Nice little cottage in the burbs.
350 acres

 

I wonder how many of the current generation of Ukranians are concerned about a repeat of the past, like the...Dolomor?, the famine/genocide that Stalin ordered.

 

Oh and there's Chernobyl on the map, north and slightly west of Kiev. Nice...

 

I'm sure that that part of Ukrainian history is etched deeply into the psyche of Ukrainians everywhere around the world. At least that has been the experience of Ukrainians that I have met.

 

@VHestin They are actually having 'Tours' in Chernobyl. Lots of curiosity seekers with Geiger counters.


Welcome to the gates of hell. Ok, the checkpoint before you get to the gates of hell.


Here is the gate to Hell.


So inviting, a city of industry and energy!


Reactor 4 and it's sarcophagus that was scheduled to be replaced last year.


Oh a fun ride. Well at least until you take a reading from the metal and the moss.



Oh, the moss. pavement is clear. the moss is hot hot hot.

 

@VisuTrac Well Darwin would be proud. I guess they're not worried about sterility or birth defects.

 

Putin orders military tests amid Ukraine tensions

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered massive exercises involving most of its military units in western Russia amid tensions in Ukraine.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised statement made at a meeting of top military brass in Moscow that the exercise is intended to "checks the troops' readiness for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation's military security."

In remarks carried by Russian news agencies, Shoigu said that the maneuvers involve over 150,000 troops, 880 tanks, 90 aircraft and 80 navy ships.

He said the exercise was unrelated to the developments in Ukraine, where tensions remain high following the toppling of Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovych.

But he added that the exercise will be held near Russian borders, including the border with Ukraine. He also said, according to Russian news reports, that his ministry will take steps to strengthen security of the facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, without elaborating.

Shoigu said Putin ordered the exercise Wednesday afternoon. During the first two days, the military will be put on high alert and some will deploy to shooting ranges.

The actual maneuvers will start Friday and will last four days, he said. The exercise will involve ships of the Baltic and the Northern Fleets and the air force.

Russia has questioned the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian authorities and accused them of failing to control radicals who threaten the Russia-speaking population in Ukraine's east and south.

A senior Russian lawmaker on Tuesday told pro-Russia activists in Crimea that Moscow will protect them if their lives are in danger. (Emphasis mine)

(This should sound familiar to folks in that part of the world. It was the same excuse used by Hitler to take control of the Sudetenland in 1938, and to invade Poland in 1939.)

Putin orders military tests amid Ukraine tensions - Yahoo News

 

Hmmmm....am waiting for the incendiarist in the Kremlin to show their hand? Next the dissolving of the Duma, and then.....

 

Hmmm Putin...Rasputin....I'm thinking that Vlad will come to a similar sticky end as his almost namesake Grigor! One can only hope.

 

Via: Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill calls Putin era a “miracle of God” | FaithWorld
When Church and State form an unholy alliance, all things are possible!

Putin had the Patriarch's back by throwing Pu$sy Riot into Jail, and now it seems Patriarch Kiril has Putin's back in dealing with The Ukraine. When the interests of churches and dictators are in alignment, ordinary people can look forward to a miserable existence. Kiril, it would seem has his eye on the "Jerusalem of Russo-Ukrainian Orthodoxy": The location of the Baptism of Rus, in Kiev. Action man Putin is just the guy to grant Kiril's wishes...in exchange for the Church's grateful support no doubt.

Russian Orthodox | Conger

Battle of Orthodox Christian patriarchs as Ukraine's Filaret denounces Russia's Kirill

 

The man who sent Yanukovich scuttling off to a very expensive and luxurious rat hole in Russia. He's probably now on a Spetznaz hit list for elimination.


In Ukraine turbulence, a lad from Lviv becomes the toast of Kiev| Reuters

 

Hypocrites of Kirill's ilk leave you hoping that there is indeed a place called hell.
In Putin's Russia, little separation between church and state - Washington Times

 

looks like Putin has successfully annexed Crimea.

Isn't that what Hitler did in 38 with Austria? The rest of the world just sat around and huffed and puffed and didn't do a dam thing. After all Austrians spoke German, so Germany had the right to annex them. You would think our leaders would at least read the history books.

I wonder what President Obama's next move will be? Maybe a speech declaring peace for our time, or do we have to wait for the UN to give the ok for that?

 

I tend to agree with Minuteman.