Ukraine (closed; covers till August 2014)

[Fuchs]

But the original strategic decision to place themselves in a position of dependency for energy from Russia was clearly an error and damaging to the German ability to act according to - what one would believe is - their conscience.

This decision must rank along with the decision to invade Russia in June 1941.

This only confirms what I already thought of you.


Seriously; the majority of the Crimeans appear to prefer Russia, though likely not anywhere close to 96%.
The referendum was a dumb one; too rushed, no respected foreign observers, thus of little weight internationally.

In general, a right of self-determination exists and clearly favours the Russian case about the Crimea in general, although the de facto invasion was clearly an aggression.
Sadly, UNSC veto right owners and their close friends get away with such behaviour officially. They get to feel the unofficial forms of backlash only later, an then tend to fail to associate it with their previous actions.

[AmericanPride]

Seriously; the majority of the Crimeans appear to prefer Russia, though likely not anywhere close to 96%.
The referendum was a dumb one; too rushed, no respected foreign observers, thus of little weight internationally.

In general, a right of self-determination exists and clearly favours the Russian case about the Crimea in general, although the de facto invasion was clearly an aggression.
Sadly, UNSC veto right owners and their close friends get away with such behaviour officially. They get to feel the unofficial forms of backlash only later, an then tend to fail to associate it with their previous actions.

I'm in agreement with you. People seem too caught up in their own propaganda. What has happened in Crimea (and South Ossetia) is not very different from similar actions by the West in Yugoslavia and to some extent even Libya and Iraq. There should not be any surprise that other states, particular ones with perceived injustices done against them, are equally dismissive of international law. Putin used the same Kosovo precedent in 2008 in Georgia as he did in 2014 in Ukraine, and six years later people are still shocked and surprised that he's using it? That ranks high in negligence in my book.

Unfortunately, Washington is very short-sighted in its policymaking, and that has been the case for some time. The short-sightedness is very destructive in building international norms and functional mulitlateral mechanisms to solve international problems, especially with states that do not have close economic or social linkages with the United States. There was no strategic forethought exercised in Washington about Ukraine in the Russian context.

[JMA]

Not a smart response Fuchs.

Thought you would understand the need to define just who is a Crimean and therefore qualifies for a vote in any election or referendum.

Seems you accept that anyone - in this case read Russians - who happen to be in town at the time can vote. Including all manner of thousands of Russian servicemen, base maintenance support staff and any wives etc. So if US NATO servicemen happened to be in Germany at election time could just show up and vote in any German election? Please now, lets show a little intellectual clarity on this matter.

Then the question is when did these people - who you seem to accept as Crimeans - actually arrive in Crimea? Where they transported in by Stalin or later to fill the gap created by the Tartars who were shipped out?

Now - I know this is painful for one so willingly dependent on mother Russia for energy - what do you think about the legality of the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea?

Seems strange to have to remind you of all people of this quote:

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
― Winston Churchill

This only confirms what I already thought of you.

Seriously; the majority of the Crimeans appear to prefer Russia, though likely not anywhere close to 96%.
The referendum was a dumb one; too rushed, no respected foreign observers, thus of little weight internationally.

In general, a right of self-determination exists and clearly favours the Russian case about the Crimea in general, although the de facto invasion was clearly an aggression.
Sadly, UNSC veto right owners and their close friends get away with such behaviour officially. They get to feel the unofficial forms of backlash only later, an then tend to fail to associate it with their previous actions.

[OUTLAW 09]

Stan----article is in German but has better details----


http://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/...d_3727795.html


Also---

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukra...er-341257.html

[OUTLAW 09]

Great article on leaked Russian instructions of disinformation for Russian TV--

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/0...to-russian-tv/

[Stan]

Stan----article is in German but has better details----


http://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/...d_3727795.html


Also---

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukra...er-341257.html

Thanks for the links !

I'm 50% Swiss German... No problems.

On the surface the article seems a tad one sided. Then the dolphin story to boot.

I wouldn't place much credibility with this as an open source, but that's just me perhaps

You should check out council member Fuchs' blog. Perhaps also considered to be one sided, but he does a much better job of finding and justifying facts.