Posted on 03/16/2014 5:16:44 PM PDT by mandaladon
Crimean voters on Sunday overwhelmingly backed a referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, in an election denounced by the United States, Europe and the Ukrainian government as illegal and destabilizing.
Fireworks exploded and Russian flags fluttered above jubilant crowds after the vote, which election officials said stood at 95 percent with more than half of the ballots counted.
The vote, the final results of which were not expected until Monday, offered voters on the strategic Black Sea peninsula the choice of seeking annexation by Russia or remaining in Ukraine with greater autonomy.
Opponents of secession appeared to largely stay away Sunday, denouncing the vote as a cynical power play/land grab by Russia. But turnout was reported to be well above the 50 percent that would make the referendum binding -- and secession was expected to be approved overwhelmingly.
"We want to go back home, and today we are going back home," said Viktoria Chernyshova, a 38-year-old businesswoman. "We needed to save ourselves from those unprincipled clowns who have taken power in Kiev."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yep. It’s always the pipelines. Thus, Rwanda.
pretty sure they were invited. See pics below for their distress.
well said.
Oh well.....their country, their business.
And if they regret it later?....oh, well....their country, their business.
Russian troops are in Crimea, but referendum is NOT held at gun point.... Over 70 International Observers documented and announced this was so....who there because 'Ukrainians in Kiev insisted' it be so.
The troops at the polling areas and throughout Crimea were there to prevent any further violence which had been and continues to be throughout areas in Ukraine...as we've observed from all news sources.
The US refused to have any Observers for the Vote...I suspect doing so would have indirectly acknowledge they were ok with it, which they've outright stated the referendum vote is illegal.
BTW...nobody are commies here nor supporting Putin....simply watching and bringing to FR what is out there to see. As one poster wrote..."There are no good guys in this"...and there aren't.
“you dont care millions were just ovetaken by a KGB thug who kills or imprisions his enemies”
Let me go on record and say I don’t care...
How is this different than US breaking up Yugoslavia? Before you answer with your dribble, were not the world power anymore...
“put Russia back on the road to a real democratic republic”
Russia is more of a real democratic republic than we are with our present administration.
“I guess what we did in Kosovo is ok, then.”
It is what it is... We were the leader of the free world then. We are not anymore thanks to Obama.
That’s right....there’s a host of Obama supporters regretting they voted for him while the rest of us have suffered under his grinding hand! I suspect in time Russians will find fault as well with being Russia’s again...however needs to be said that life for Russians has been better overall as to income and such than has been in Crimea.
No doubt Putin will build Crimea up as the Tourist area it once was to many Russians who went there. So Crimea will do much better in their daily lifestyle down the road...
...(”The Crimean Peninsula, with its voluptuously curved Black Sea coast of sparkling cliffs, is paradise—with Riviera-grade vistas but without Riviera prices. Balmy with 300 days of sun a year (“It is never winter here,” said the writer Anton Chekhov, who had a dacha near Yalta), the place served as the playground of tsars and Politburo fat cats. Russians practically wept when, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Crimea was pulled out of the orbit of Russian rule and became part of an independent Ukraine.”).....
We were doing the Saudis bidding then, just as we have with every major intervention, since Grenada.
“And Mexicans belong in Mexico, don’t forget.”
Yes, that’s why we should deport them...
...”Thus, Rwanda”...
Oh I doubt anything like Rwanda......few realize negotiations between Putin and the administration are ongoing now the vote has happened.....deals are being made.....and though the people voted for referendum Putin is in the seat of power there now and he’ll barter.
Keeping the peace throughout this next year into the next few will be the issue....Putin’s military in Crimea will prevent much....not so sure Ukraine. Still ongoing conflicts there.
Next step will be removing Ukraine Military out of Ukraine....that may cause some real conflict among the people.
Not posted to me, but do you suggest we get into a war with Russia?
Should be invade the Ukraine because we don't like the outcome of the election there?
No doubt about it.
But perhaps we're reading the map-colors differently--I see Mykolayiv and Odessa in a white area. The grey area I'm looking at contains Donetsk and other heavily Russian-inhabited sectors sitting cheek-by-jowl on Putin's border.
Vlad is tasting nectar of victory in Crimea--he knows the EU & USA are war-weary toothless wonders full of hot air. If he plays the game as he's been doing, he can move his borders carefully and safely Westward to keep that wonderful flavor in his mouth.
Putin won't be doing a re-build of the old USSR overnight--but don't be surprised if the Donetsk region and surrounding territory in East Ukraine is in play by U.S. voting time this November.
Remember: Putin has said that the greatest tragedy of the 20th Century was the break-up of the Soviet Union. There's little doubt that his intention is to correct this terrible bust-up and play Humpty-Dumpty as the 21st Century redeemer of Lenin's great dream.
I predict Polish troops move into Western Ukraine if that region is threatened.
The Bosnian referendum is how the Bosnian war started as the sizable minority Serbian population was against it & felt threatened by the new independence government.
Then we will probably be looking at the next world war.
The people on here bitching about Crimea leaving Ukraine are the same ones always wanting Texas to secede from the U.S. I wonder what they’d say if Texans voted 96% to leave.
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