... geopolitical prom queen: In the past it has warned Russia about how it acted with Chechnya, China, Venezuela, Iran, and Syria, but ultimately did nothing. It is now warning Russia that ‘there will be costs’ if it acts inappropriately in Crimea and onward with greater Ukraine. One might forgive Russia if it reacts to such warnings with a giant foreign policy yawn. Let us look briefly at Ukraine: Yanukovych was a thug. But he was a thug popularly elected in his own country. But he was elected via means that were clearly ...
Many comments have been published about the outcomes of the Ukraine-Crimea crisis and Russia’s policy toward it with respect to the existing crises in the Middle East — Syria, Iran and Israel-Palestine. A lot has been said about a possible shift in Russia’s approach toward cooperation with the West, ...
... to the UN) and sending an appropriate force message to Georgia to stop exacerbating the situation. And now in Crimea, Russia is bluntly pursuing its best foreign policy interests during a time of political turmoil in a region that was once its own (Crimea was given to Ukraine in the 1950s with an air of diplomatic indifference as the expected eternal nature of the Soviet Union made the ‘gift’ irrelevant - Moscow would always control it.), while listening to the West say it is trying to ultimately occupy ...
... Researcher at the Institute of Economics and Forecasting.
Do you think Ukraine might disintegrate?
Ukraine will not disintegrate. Ukrainians have long been afraid of this, but now we can see that it won’t happen because, strangely enough, Eastern Ukraine and Crimea want to be part of Ukraine – unfortunately for Russia. There have been calls in the past from Ukrainians for the country to be split into federations, and Crimea used to want to be closer to Russia. But the murders on Maidan Square, Russian ...
... given political, economic and military support to the local, pro-Russian elements who never accepted Ukraine's ownership of Crimea, which was transferred from Moscow's to Kiev's administration in 1954. Moscow now has two options: a confederacy between Crimea and Ukraine and Crimea's full integration into the Russian Federation (a relevant law is being adjusted to allow this).
With regard to eastern and southern Ukraine, Russia will seek to support those elements who resent western Ukrainian rule in Kiev. Rather ...
The mounting conflict over the status of the autonomous republic of Crimea deserves an urgent, careful response. Of all the potential conflicts in postrevolutionary Ukraine, none is more important than a serious crisis in Crimea, which could lead to a hot war in Ukraine and dramatically increase tensions between Russia and the West.
Events are moving quickly.
Earlier today, demonstrators waving Russian flags broke through police lines at the local parliament building in Simferopol, Crimea’s capital, and ...
