Skashion said:
Russia is rushing in and taking something that for the vast majority of its history has belonged to them and where ethnic Russians outnumber ethnic Ukrainians by over a two-and-a-half to one ratio. The Ukraine was only given the Crimea by Russia as essentially a diplomatic gesture during the Soviet era and obviously under the presumption that the Ukraine and Russia would remain joined under the Soviet Union. There was no transfer of sovereignty when it was handed over because it all fell under the umbrella of the Soviet Union. Now this materially-empty gesture in the Soviet era apparently means something material and apparently the west has a right to interfere when it's none of our business. Would we take a blind bit of notice Russia telling us what to do with Northern Ireland, Gibraltar or the Falklands? Would we fuck - and all those cases are less straightforward than the Crimea. It's absurd to expect Russia take any notice of the west about trying to regain territory a) it has a hugely legitimate claim to b) where the majority of citizens want Russian sovereignty and where the Parliament has just voted to join Russia. Unless Russian soldiers are massacring ethnic Ukrainians, we've no right to interfere.
Well said.
But it is the media that sets the tone and decides who are the good guys and bad guys in this particular incident and the majority of the masses will follow suit. Russia understands the contempt and disrespect in which they are held by the rest of Europe and America and they know that longstanding prejudice so to speak, which was the underlying emotion behind the attack of Germany in the 1930's will never change as people are constantly indoctrinated to despise and view Russia as the outsiders and something profoundly substandard.
Putin knows all this so he is just going to do what is best for Russia and will not give a flying beans about what the rest of Europe and America think or reacts. He has a lot of flaws no doubt but a strong and wise leader he is.
