Ukraine Crisis

[Middle-aged Europe]

EU could make exceptions in situations like this.

If Russia wants to play imperialism again, I can see a "fast track" scenario where Turkey and Ukraine could join the organization in little time. Both nations have a high HDI (in fact, Ukraine is more developed than Turkey).

This would basically make the CSU run amok in Germany. In fact, Seehofer would probably prefer a Ukraine which is fully annexed by Russia over a Turkey which holds full EU membership.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Btw, another way to sanction Russia would be to cancel these ships:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_ship_Vladivostok_%282013%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_ship_Sevastopol_%28Mistral_class%29

[Middle-aged Europe]

EU could make exceptions in situations like this.

If Russia wants to play imperialism again, I can see a "fast track" scenario where Turkey and Ukraine could join the organization in little time. Both nations have a high HDI (in fact, Ukraine is more developed than Turkey).

This would basically make the CSU run amok in Germany. In fact, Seehofer would probably prefer a Ukraine which is fully annexed by Russia over a Turkey which holds full EU membership.

Don't know. After this we will live in other geopolitical scenario.

And I don't think that bavarians would prefer Russia over Turkey.

Well, they would certainly oppose admitting Russia to the EU as well. But this isn't the issue.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Russia Today anchor Liz Wahl quits her job live on air:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h79v9uirLY

RT releases a statement denouncing it as a "self-promotional stunt":

http://rt.com/usa/rt-reacts-liz-wahl-042/

[Middle-aged Europe]

According to the Crimean deputy prime minister, the referendum on the future status of the peninsula was pushed up by another two weeks and is now set for March 16. Also, the referendum won't be about independence anymore, but whether Crimea wants to join the Russian Federation.

[Middle-aged Europe]

German vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has just met Putin and Medvedev in Moscow. Contents of the discussion will not be disclosed. Tomorrow he will travel to Kiev.

[Middle-aged Europe]

U.S. State Department releases a "fact sheet" on Ukraine that starts with:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/03/222988.htm

[Middle-aged Europe]

OSCE observers were refused entry to Crimea by armed men today.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Crimean deputy prime minister Rustam Temirgaliev just made the following statement:

- The Crimean parliament's decision to join the Russian Federation is effective immediately.

- As of this moment, Ukraninian troops on Crimea are considered an occupation force. Ukrainian soldiers on Crimea must either accept Russian citizenship and join the Russian amry or leave the peninsula.

Who the f**k is this Temirgaliev guy anyway? Seems like a major troll to me.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Russia Today has already adjusted their map of Russia:




Also, there's a report that the Simforopol airport started to list Kiev under "international departures" now.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Vladimir Putin is obviously not Hitler. Not quite, anyway.

Hitler believed in the racial superiority of his people and that they deserved a Lebensraum which consisted of almost all of Eastern Europe as well as parts of Asia... including territories which at no point in history had been by Germany in any way.

Putin doesn't believe in any of this. He most likely believes - being an old school KGB officer and all - that Russia deserves to control a sphere of influence which is more or less identical to the boundaries of the old Soviet Union. Maybe (and hopefully) without the Baltic republics... hopefully because that could cause real trouble. But I assume that Putin knows very well that as long as NATO exists that any direct aggression against the Baltics automatically triggers Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and this means World War III. And I also doubt that Putin believes in "victory or death" like Hitler did.

There's one parallel between Hitler and Putin though. Both men believed that the rules don't apply to them as long as they find a way to get away with it. In essence, they believed in military power and that international law is just something written on a piece of paper.

What does this mean for "the West"? It means that the West has to deal with someone who belives that everything is fair game as long as it happens on the former territory of the Soviet Unions (sans the Baltic republics).

Now that's my take on Godwin.

[Middle-aged Europe]

SPIEGEL ONLINE reports that Angela Merkel will boycott the G8 Summit in Sochi if the Crimean referendum isn't cancelled.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Anyone think this will lead to WW3? I hope not...

Well, to follow the old Cold War logic:

It certainly won't lead to WWIII as long as everyone involved remains aware that it could lead to WWIII.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Given Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and unnecessary meddling in Syria, this is totally inappropriate.

The article you cited states that Putin was nominated in October, so Ukraine didn't factor into this and hence can't constitute a reason for its inappropriateness.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Given Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and unnecessary meddling in Syria, this is totally inappropriate.

The article you cited states that Putin was nominated in October, so Ukraine didn't factor into this and hence can't constitute a reason for its inappropriateness.

No, the article notes  that "it had likely submitted in October" not that it definitely was submitted in October, plus it also cites Voice of Russia, which is basically a Putin propaganda arm.

Deadline for the nominations was Feb. 1, which is still well before Crimea.

[Middle-aged Europe]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/05/putin-nobel-prize_n_4904768.html

Naturally some genius decided it was a brilliant idea to nominate Putin for a Nobel Peace Prize (Again).

Given Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and unnecessary meddling in Syria, this is totally inappropriate.

Yasser [inks]ing Arafat got a nobel prize. It is a joke.

At the time, it did seem like a good idea to award it to Arafat. Nobody could foresee that the reason for awarding it to him would disappear again shortly thereafter.

Menachem Begin also won the Nobel peace prize, despite the fact that he was responsible - among other things - for the King David Hotel bombing in 1946 which had killed 91 innocent people. Almost nobody seems to question Begin winning the peace prize, probably because the reason for awarding it to Begin - creating lasting peace between Israel and Egypt - didn't disappear almost instantly.

Of course, if we assume that past "evil" actions can't be cancelled out by whatever good you have done since then, then neither Begin nor Arafat deserved the Nobel prize. Strictly speaking, both men deserved to go to jail for life and to have the Nobel peace prize be awarded to them.

In any case, this is just a nomination Putin has received and hence it is completely meaningless. Pretty much everybody has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize since it has come into existence. Hitler and Stalin were nominated for the Peace prize too.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The Greens in the European Parliament have started a petition which demands that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder should be banned from starting any more threads on Ukraine or Crimea.

Well, it's a resolution actually... and it says that he should refrain from making any more statements on the issue because of his pro-Russia stance and his conflict of interest because of his involvement with Gazprom. But it reads like a petition to the Atlas mods.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I can't understand why leaving Crimea to the Russians is so hard for the West. They already had the territory de facto.

They didn't. Well, depends on how you define "having". If you mean having by lots of ethnic Russians living there, then Turkey de facto has Berlin-Kreuzberg too.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Poland is Poland, which means it needs to be prepared to have a nervous Germany stab her in the back to secure its gas supply.

Let's hope that Uschi - our new commander-in-chief - didn't read your suggestion.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I think it's time for President Obama to ask for a Declaration of War against Russia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37OWL7AzvHo

[Middle-aged Europe]

Tens of thousands of people participated in a peace march in Moscow today, outnumbering the rival pro-Putin rally by far:

http://www.dw.de/tens-of-thousands-attend-moscow-peace-rally-as-russia-vetoes-un-resolution-on-crimea-referendum/a-17499145

[Middle-aged Europe]

I'd say Putin is mentally sane. Maybe narrow-minded depending on how you look at it.

As I indicated a couple of pages ago, as an ex-KGB colonel he places too much emphasis on raw political and military power while seemingly laughing about "soft power". Sure, he's gonna ensure that Crimea and the port of Sevastopol never fall into NATO hands, but at the same time he's about to wreck his country's economy (not to mention his country's image) in the process.

Yesterday's peace demonstrations in Moscow show that at least part of his own population (even though it may be only a vocal minority) begins to see him as a Russian version of Dubya.  Well, maybe Cheney rather than Dubya, since Putin is probably more intelligent as well as more cynical.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The everyday life on Crimea...

[Middle-aged Europe]

During a press conference, the Chinese deputy foreign minister refused to answer the question whether his government recognizes the Crimean referendum and its result as legitimate.

Hahahahahaha, wouldn't want to see a secession referendum on Taiwan, right?

[Middle-aged Europe]

The Ukrainian defence minister has announced that the Ukrainian military forces which are currently stationed on Crimea will remain on Crimea.

Meanwhile, Putin plans to adress both chambers of Russian parliament tomorrow at noon.