Crimean status referendum: March 16, 2014

[ag]

Wrong board. This is not an election. At most, an "electoral-type event".

[ag]

Anyone know what the Russian word for Anschluss is?

According to Google Translate:  подключение

подключение means "Anschluss" in the sense of the connection to e.g a telephone network
The "Anschluss", the (forced) merger of one state/territory with an other, if I may say so, is присоединение, says at least my German-Russian dictionary.

Russians used to say "Anshljuss". Of course, this is not Kremlinly politically correct here

Присоединение in this context would have a slightly negative connotation, as it presupposes that they had never been together before. I am pretty sure, they are going to use воссоединение, "reunification". And that is, in fact, what they put on the "ballot".

[ag]

The result of this referendum certainly seems like a foregone conclusion, although it appears now that the impetus to hold it might be coming from Simferopol rather than from Moscow.

     In that case, what would the political ramifications be if it somehow fails? Would it faze the Crimean government?

What would happen if tomorrow Putin were to convert to Buddhism and retire to a monastery near Lhasa to spend the rest of his life meditating? Because that is, certainly, more in the realm of the possible.

The "referendum" will be run WITHOUT a voter list, with more ballots printed then there are voters in the peninsula, under control of the occupying forces and, almost certainly, boycotted by pretty much everybody, who disagrees with Russian annexation. Any questions?

[ag]

The West should only reject this illegal secession if it rejects the other illegal secession it supported six years ago. Russia should also be morally consistent.

It is sorrowful, that condemning Kosovo and worshiping Milosevic has become token of progressism in modern America.

I have not done the latter. The situations in Kosovo and Crimea are clearly parallel, anyway, just switching out one rotten imperial power (the US/NATO) for another (Russia).

I did not know Crimean kids have spent the last 10 years going to underground Russian schools, nor that all the local policemen have been replaced long ago with those from Lviv, nor that all Russian-speaking public sector employees have been fired 10 years back, etc., etc. Nor has it come to my notice that hundreds of thousands of refugees from the main urban centers have been fleeing an ethnic purge. Since you insist on the parallelism here, I guess, you have seen evidence to all of that. Where are you getting that info, if you do not mind me asking? 

[ag]

Insofar as both secessions were illegal under international law and protected by imperial powers/power blocs.

(ftr I have you on ignore)

Snowstalker having someone on ignore... Yikes.

That is an honor

[ag]

Actually, a few things. The representatives of the Tatar community that the Western media always hear do not represent the entirety of said community. From the figures, I'm guessing a not negligible number of them actually voted in favor of joining Russia.

The easiest explanation, that does not require assuming some of the Tartars voted, is that one could vote without being a local. There are substantial numbers of Russian soldiers and "visitors" there - and they are known to have voted. The total number of voters in Sebastopol exceeds the number of residents - not registered voters, not those of voting age, but of all residents - who had been known to live there.

Yes, there are some Tartars that are ok with the annexation. And some Jews in France vote National Front, probably. And you can even, most likely, find a gay black guy in Manhattan who is a Republican.

[ag]

We need to rejoin Vilnius region with the Motherland.

Oh, they will take care of it. And Варшава as well, while they are at it.

[ag]

Does anyone know what the 2010 presidential election results would have been without Crimea's votes?

Yanukovich would still have one - by about 92 thousand votes out of about 23 mln. cast

[ag]

The total number of voters in Sebastopol exceeds the number of residents - not registered voters, not those of voting age, but of all residents - who had been known to live there.

No, it's not true (obviously, even if results are totally rigged, those who held and rigged referendum aren't totally dumb). Official number is 274 thousands (89.5% of total voters). But one of referendum organizers mistakenly declared that 474 thousands voted (or journalists misheard him - and then spread his statement).

Sorry, my bad, didn´t check.

Anyway, at the last (heavily contested) parliamentary election in Ukraine in 2012 they had just under 146 thousand valid votes in Sebastopol (of which just over 10 thousand votes were for Batkivshchina and UDAR candidates - outright Western parties, with no chances locally). More people showed up for the presidential second round in 2010: including spoiled ballots and such they had just over 211 thousand votes (of which just under 22 thousand were for Timoshenko).

At the same (2010) presidential election in Crimea (without Sebastopol) there were just under 1,050 thousand votes (including spoiled ballots and such). Of these just under 182 thousand were for Timoshenko.

[ag]

Yes, there are some Tartars that are ok with the annexation. And some Jews in France vote National Front, probably. And you can even, most likely, find a gay black guy in Manhattan who is a Republican.

Actually, Manhattan probably has the most black gays of anywhere.

Of course. And how many of those are Republican?