... better off letting Crimea be its one and only move on the board. What victory could be better than checkmate AND confounding your opponents, who had previously thought they had completely understood your psyche, methods, objectives, and purpose? Eastern Ukraine is nothing compared to that value.
And so, if I was President Putin, I would not make a move. I would allow Crimeans to continue to voice their satisfaction with their own political status. I would stoically receive news of sanctions with little fanfare or drumbeating of my own. And, as they say, I would watch everyone else sweat as they desperately sit and ...
... be guilty of many mistakes, this should mean that opposing the mistakes of the West should lead to committing yet another blunder.
Zhang Hong
Zhang Hong: Russia cannot count on Chinese support over the issue of a referendum on the independence of Crimea
Expert on Ukraine and researcher at the Institute of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the Chinese Social Sciences
<…> There are many ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, and therein lies the necessity for Russia to very closely follow the domestic ...
... the guilty is not the most important thing now. It is much more urgent to get a realistic assessment of the current state of affairs in Ukraine and to define practical steps in order to resolve the crisis.
In my opinion, to reduce all the problems in Ukraine to the ‘annexation of Crimea’ would be a profound and tragic delusion. The core of the problem is not the new status of Crimea, which is nothing more than an implication of the preceding events in Kyiv. The core of the problem lies in the Ukrainian state being disintegrated,...
... just over two minutes, pulls no punches as Tymoshenko and Shufrich basically excoriate everyone associated with the events in Crimea, regretting they are not able to, in turn, shoot people in the head, fire nuclear weapons on them, and march down to Crimea themselves and start an armed retaliation campaign against all those who were for the referendum to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia. Tymoshenko is especially intense in her bravado, claiming that if she had been able to get down to Crimea the people would have been eating (expletive deleted) instead of succeeding in holding the referendum.
I am not able ...
... political and economic sanctions.
As a result, Russia and the United States will hardly become strategic partners in settling the Ukraine crisis. It seems more likely that there will be a strategic confrontation with selective cooperation in areas indispensable ... ... a combination of sanctions and selective cooperation.
What is important is the future Russia's foreign policy, i.e. whether Crimea means launching the process of amalgamating Russian-speaking minorities and territories or it is an exclusive case.
Anyway,...
... discontent. It is ironic to consider that as events continue to unfold in Crimea the path that might hold the most hope for future peace and stability is the one that guarantees all sides being at least somewhat disappointed. Allow me to elaborate:
Why Ukraine should be disappointed: Crimea is done. As the famous Southern saying in America goes, ‘closing the barn door after the horses have left doesn’t do much good.’ Authorities in Kiev are understandably displeased. They will remain displeased. They must learn to ...
... side of this approach to security is the reliance of European countries on US military assistance, and the Crimean crisis has confirmed that the United States would probably consider military measures if the military conflict were to spread to mainland Ukraine.
The Crimean crisis, the ‘war of nerves’associated with the threat of war between Russia and Ukraine, has put the issue of the cultural kinship of the peoples of these countries – a kinship that is not reducible to the ideological cliché ...
... will be worth it.
Because, even if the Ukrainian conflict is contained in its current state, Europe’s political and security landscape has been arbitrarily re-written, understandably worrying the EU member states of East Central Europe. The Crimean adventure, seasoned with a large amount of the usual disinformation, has occasioned a huge rise in Putin’s popularity — much like the last time in Georgia. He now has the recipe.
But the situation in Ukraine is bound to escalate. It will not come to a Cold War — but it looks like Putin is dead set on testing the limits.
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... a pro-Russian regional government, had a strong voice in it.
Meanwhile, as many observe, Russia’s Sevastopol naval base would have guaranteed that Ukraine does not join NATO — this would be impermissible under NATO regulations. Without Crimea, Ukraine is free to do as it wishes. Considering the resentment the annexation of Crimea will cause in much of Ukraine, it is likely the pro-European sentiment will be strengthened, resulting in closer integration with Europe and maybe with NATO — ...
... offering deals that eliminate debt with no actual repayment? Finally, the piece reports, ‘voters have two options to choose from - but both imply Russian control of the peninsula. On the surface, the second choice appears to offer the prospect of Crimea remaining with Ukraine. However, the 1992 constitution which it cites foresees giving the region effective independence within Ukraine, but with the right to determine its own path and choose relations with whom it wants - including with Russia.’ The problem I ...
