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To: quadrant
until then, the only result we have is the referendum

It is not a "result" of any kind. It is an exercise of power by the invasion force.

In fact, there was at least once a credible poll there, when Ukraine legitimized the break off of Ukraine, and the Crimeans voted to break off the RF. Not by such a larger margin as the rest of the country, but they did not want to go with Russia then. So the farce that we have to day is not even the "only" anything.

149 posted on 03/25/2014 6:51:39 PM PDT by annalex (fear them not)
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To: annalex
All politics is to one degree or another an exercise of power.
Please don't tell me you've become one of those who govern their opinions by polls. Polls are the most manipulated thing on this planet.
Again, perhaps a “secret” majority of the Crimeans, want to remain as part of Ukraine, but until some evidence of that desire manifests itself, we are left with the fact that however bent, however thin, the results of the referendum is the only straw on which we can grasp.
But one fact is absolutely certain, if Ukraine fixates on Crimea, it will lose everything. The country will be dismembered by Russia or absorbed entirely by Moscow. If Ukraine tries to lean on the US, NATO, or the EU, it will find that reed not only bent but non-existent.
The geography of Ukraine will never allow it to become part of Europe. It must carve out some sort of existence for itself - as has Finland - that is separated from Russia but not absolutely independent of it. If the government in Kiev persists in attempting to pull away completely - by joining NATO or the EU - tragedy will result. Russia is simply too big, too powerful, and too close. If absorption does not come by Putin, it will be by someone else, by some other Czar or president.
I suggest you remember a quotation attributed to a president of Mexico, “Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the US.”
Were I Ukrainian, this condition of national survival would gall me to the bottom of my soul. I would want to be part of Europe. I would want to mingle on equal terms with
other residents of the EU.
But I want Ukraine to survive. And it won't survive, if it attempts to extricate itself completely from Russia.
Let the RF have Crimea. Better to let it go, as a desperately ill man might be willing to lose a diseased foot that's poisoning his system - than to fight over what cannot be saved.
Remember, national existence is a generational obligation. Quibbling over constitutional niceties is not the road to survival in a dangerous neighborhood.
150 posted on 03/26/2014 7:19:32 AM PDT by quadrant (1o)
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