Crimea: Russia’s Next Afghanistan?

New York Times Guest Op-Ed Contibutor ^ | MARCH 3, 2014 | By OLGA DUKHNICH

[Veristhorne]

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — Since Saturday, the headquarters of the government of Crimea — an autonomous region of Ukraine — have been occupied by special forces whose uniforms are unmarked but whose identity is a mystery to no one here. ... The dominant mood here in Crimea – even among local Russian-speaking intellectuals who have been vocal in defense of their linguistic rights and cultural identity – is not joy, but fear.

The majority of Crimean Russians did not want to see Russian tanks and troops in the streets. They understand that if the occupation continues, it may undermine their livelihood. Crimea is a tourist destination; the incomes and well-being of many of its inhabitants depend on revenues from the peak travel season, when vacationers come to the Black Sea for relaxation. They cannot live on rations from the Russian military. And they know that Crimea could not be economically sustained without the rest of Ukraine, which supplies the region with electricity and water. {more at link above}

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[Psalm 144]

That wouldn’t surprise me. This was such an obvious pawn grabbing move by some of the same people who brought us Libya and Egypt. NWO putsch.

[demshateGod]

They did it as a meaningless gesture.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Yeh Putey is already racheting down the rhetoric. I think he’s starting to get that feeling when you wake up naked in a crowd of stangers. :-)

[Veristhorne]

Thanks for your comment GG2. I’m not sure it’s possible to put the Evil Empire back together again. The key to Stalin’s enormous success was Stalinist Terror, and the Gulag System - (slave labor and cannon fodder) Ignorance of the outside world helped to preserve the illusion of the Worker’s Paradise... which is why returning POW’s who had seen Europe’s affluence (Operation Keelhaul) were usually killed or sent straight to the gulags. FDR’s VP Wallace visited one in the 40’s and declared them wonderful cultural and athletic centers, we were so blissfully and pathetically ignorant. Now we know different. Internet has changed a lot of things.
Putin may be the dog that caught the car. If gas prices fall because of the fracking boom (Go Keystone Pipeline!), and Russians resist reimposition of the Gulag system, his imperialist dreams may not be shared by the bulk of the Russian people, if in fact they are now. There were a lot of discipline problems in the Czech invasion of ‘66, and some of the stiffest resistance the Russian army met in Budaest in fall of ‘54 was from defecting Russian soldiers that joined the Csepel factory workers when they realized what they were fighting for.
If Putin sends tank columns into Ukraine there’s going to be one heck of a refugee problem, and I can guarantee some Tianamin Square moments. Ukrainians are crazy passionate about their freedom; they should be in our thoughts and prayers.