At this point I don't know if additional troops have been introduced to the Crimea or if these are Marines from the Naval Base taking up a defensive posture to keep the Ukrainians, or anyone else, from trying to remove them from the area. Either way, they are Russian troops on Ukrainian soil. But they may not constitue the vanguard of an invasion but simply a LP-OP of sorts. I would be curious to know what, if any, legal authority they are claiming for this action.Originally Posted by Firn
I'm certain that the local Russian-Non-Russian paramilitary forces of the Crimea got the first pick. Or maybe they stumbled across them in an old warehouse, along with pretty modern locking small arms. Happily the equipment was in complete sets and so everybody could uniformly drive away in the military vehicles which happened to be there as well.
As for warnings not to intervene, I am not sure that we (the US) should be making any. There is still a government (of sorts) in the Ukraine. If they invite in the EU or NATO perhaps we can get involved, but if there is anything left to the concept of sovereignty, then we have little authority to act.
On the other hand, the Russians have physical bases in the Ukraine. The question now is whether Russia will recognize (not openly, but covertly) the new government of Ukraine or whether they will take the posture that this was an illegal coups and intervene directly.
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