Russia has a history of invading foreign countries, subjugating them, deporting their populaces, and annexing their territory.
2) Can Ukraine do without Crimea?
Can you do without your left kidney? Good! My operatives will be over this evening to relieve you of it!
Regards,
“Russia has a history of invading foreign countries, subjugating them, deporting their populaces, and annexing their territory.”
The Turks want the territory the Russians grabbed back.
Really.. so give us a history lesson about Ukraine and Crimea... as it has no history other then the USSR took Crimea from Russia and gave it to Ukraine back in the 50’s when they we both part of the Soviet Union
Crimea has long been part of Russia, for centuries. Even when Crimea was located within Ukraine it had a special status. It had its own parliament. It had RUSSIAN military bases, not Ukrainian. And even the Western media acknowledges that in a referendum, the people of Crimea voted to rejoin Russia.
So yes, Ukraine can survive without that kidney.
With respect and using history as a guide, the long European tale of colonial power and rule suggests that Russia is not alone in the game. Even now, Macron's France has its problems with their once-colonies not wanting the "help" of Mother France, and of course Germany has its own tale to tell of invading many nations, subjugating them and annexing territory. Add to the larger picture the American military in so many nations, such as Syria currently where we are no longer wanted, and one has a canvas on which to portray many things. How many nations has our good old USofA invaded since 2000 for the "war on terror?"
Then of course there is the interesting tale of the European Union, which some European opponents of the "EU Commission" specifically are calling -- as was the USSR called -- a "union of collective republics," or EUSSR? After all, that was the verbiage in the British press, as one example of many, during the Brexit campaign.
If you will notice, the Crimea (in green) was controlled by Tatars. The Tatars is an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar". Initially, the ethnonym Tatar possibly referred to the Tatar confederation. That confederation was eventually incorporated into the Mongol Empire when Genghis Khan unified the various steppe tribes.
Crimea is not Ukraine. It is more Russia than anything, although they have a lot of Khazaks. They do not speak Ukrainian there. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has been based there for a very long time. I have been there and seen it about 15 years ago - rusting in the harbor. The submarines looked plenty dangerous though. The Czar of Russia since the mid-1800s kept his winter palace there, beautiful place, in Yalta - where FDR and Churchill carved up post-war Europe at the end of WW-2, giving Crimea of course to Russia. I have been there, and it is most certainly not Ukraine. In order for Ukraine to take Crimea, they will have to exterminate most of the indigenous population, who consider themselves to be Russian.
Can Ukraine do without Crimea? is a silly question. They always have. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Crimea was for a short time nominally under dominion of the government in Kiev, they had their own local government and strained relations with Kiev. Ethnic Russians locally and Russians from Russia own most of the housing and property there. It is Russia’s Florida and they all used to vacation there.