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 ...
Ah, excellent points!! Putin will fight for his ports.
I can see that these Crimeans are greatly distressed after voting to join Russia.
Great propaganda shot Ms Russophile. It reminds me of the photographs published after the elections that Stalin promised FDR in Yalta to conduct in Eastern Europe, all of them without exception falsified. Propaganda is nothing more than.. propaganda.
Spoken like a true Democrat circa 1946.
Oh bullshit. Who did you vote for president for in the last election?
Really? So there is now a US flag flying over Kosovo? Are you moving there anytime soon?
But regardless of what provinces are affected, it will be all done through a public vote, like today’s referendum in Crimea. It will be perfectly democratic, and nobody will be able to object to that. Well, some do, but what kind of selective democracy do they preach? Don’t the people have freedom of association? They are not slaves of Kievan boyars, you know...
What exactly is “democratic” about two yes options and no no option. All under the barrel of the gun. Are you blind or a code pinko?
Russia is mostly a third world dung hole. Ukrainians outside of the eastern part of the country will never freely choose the squat toilets of Russia over EU membership. Never. Putin knows that and that is why we got retro Russian “democracy” circa 1940 today.
If you must pry, I voted for Romney, but what good is it when fraud cancels out my vote?
It is a bias you may never overcome I am guessing.
I have spent a lot of time in Russia and I am here to tell you that Putin is very popular and well liked. Through whatever unfortunate circumstances, the Crimea is now populated mostly with Russians who like Putin.
If this is such a disturbing crime, where were you when Rwanda happened, Tibet, Abkhazia, and the list could go on forever. How about the Serbs who were being impaled and roasted alive on fire pits by islamic thugs?
In the larger scheme of things, so far at least, this is no big deal.
If it still really makes you so upset, I am sure the chechen terrorists would love to have your help blowing things up. Putin is not always wrong, and imo he is a far better leader than the bozo we have in our White House right now. God help us. Please let Ted Cruz be our next president - this is what I pray for!
Again, you could not be more wrong. California is headed that direction and some say the central valley is very close if not already a third world trash heap.
Much of Russia is beautiful, the people are kind and extremely hospitable, generous to a fault and quite serious about imitating Christ at every opportunity.
Actually there is the largest US military base there now.
So give up then. That's what got us Obama to begin with. It just amazes me that the history is repeating itself as and we have idiots posting pics of Russians cheering on Putin as if it's no big deal what he's doing.
Fortress America - right. It worked so well before.
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I can see why they would be happy. This was their other choice:
The same Crimeans voted in Ukraine for last 20 years since Ukraine gained independence. Did they suddenly become brainwashed Communists, like in NK? Or, perhaps, if they vote wrong they would be taken out back and shot? I haven't read such reports, sorry...
The best thing to do here is to accept that Crimea was a Russian land since Catherine the Great:
Catherine annexed the Crimea in 1783, nine years after the Crimean Khanate had gained nominal independencewhich had been guaranteed by Russiafrom the Ottoman Empire as a result of her first war against the Turks. The palace of the Crimean khans passed into the hands of the Russians. In 1786 Catherine conducted a triumphal procession in the Crimea, which helped provoke the next RussoTurkish War.The Ottomans restarted hostilities in the second Russo-Turkish War (178792). This war, catastrophic for the Ottomans, ended with the Treaty of Jassy (1792), which legitimised the Russian claim to the Crimea and granted the Yedisan region to Russia.
It does not befit an old, established democracy (such as the USA) to pick and choose what groups of people are or are not free enough, smart or not smart enough to vote in their own democratic processes. The best one can do is to send observers. Crimea invited observers to come. EU said "you have no right for this vote" and sent no one. Imagine that. Selective democracy at its best - "the vote is legitimate only when I like the results." True democracy, like justice, must be blind. If North Koreans want to vote this way instead of revolting against their leaders, it's sad - but, ultimately, it's their right. It was equally sad to see how the US voters voted for Obama, twice. It was sad... but that's how democracy works, whether you like the outcome or not. Nothing else would be fair.
Those were Lithuanians, not Russians.
LOL! The largest than what? Still doesn't negate what I said. I don't care if it's bigger than Ft Hood.
Guess the Demos and NWO types couldn't practice voter fraud - but then it's still early and millions of "lost" ballots could still be found, in the back of cars, stuck inside in voting machines, in Lenin's tomb...
Too funny. Russia invades Crimea then demands elections in a few weeks. Results? Strangely similar to the results in North Korea.
These moral relativists can’t oppose both the kenyan and the murdering KGB thug. Apparently it’s too hard to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Look up fact driven posts by FReeper WhiskeyX for more information about today’s referendum. There was also a recent (pre-Maidan) poll in Crimea about joining Russia and as I recall 54% responders said, no thanks. It doesn’t make sense, does it.
The Tatars, for whom Crimea is the homeland (12% of the population), wanted to stay with Ukraine which promised them some degree of independence.
Russians love Putin that is true, despite all the hardship, because like previous tyrants he makes them proud of their poor by powerful country. Life’s hard, but we’re strong. That’s the reading of Russian dissidents I’ve read and met. Russia remains the last colonialist empire, despite all the ignorant personal insults of some vermin here. The end of history has officially ended, just ask Francis Fukuyama.
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