Ukraine Crisis

[Хahar 🤔]

Hopefully the duly elected government can continue to hold strong against mob violence.

[Хahar 🤔]

Any news about Yanukovich? It'd be nice if they managed to arrest him before he flees to Russia.

He's either north, west, east, or south of Kharkiv.

Am I the only one that can draw the parallels to Romania 1989?

You certainly can draw parallels, but they wouldn't really be appropriate.

[Хahar 🤔]

Putin is scary... I had this feeling during Georgia 2008. Countries need to respect other countries' territorial sovereignty. The difference between this and what the U.S. does, the U.S. goes in, installs a new government, and then eventually, for the most part, leaves. Iraq, today, is effectively independent. It's not clear if that's the intention in Crimea. This would be more like the U.S. invading Nova Scotia. It has the appearance of a naked land grab. Exactly the kind of behavior the U.S. intervened in the first Gulf war to stop. If this kind of behavior is allowed to go forward, international relations could start devolving into a pre-WWII type situation where larger states simply gobble up smaller ones.

That would be a reasonable analogy if the majority of the population of Nova Scotia identified as American.

[Хahar 🤔]

Perhaps it may not be appropriate for a prospective world leader to be making enemies lists.

[Хahar 🤔]

Want to get China on our side? Promise them all of Siberia if they would side with us against Russia if it were to actually come to anything. If it was the US/Europe/China/Japan agianst Russia they would probably be more likely to back down.

This isn't the 18th century; military conquest isn't actually a legitimate diplomatic instrument anymore.

[Хahar 🤔]

Also, has everyone seen the final wording of the Crimea referendum? Beyond being vague, it's literally meaningless. To paraphrase: Crimea is independent but it is part of Ukraine by virtue of agreements.

Huh?

No matter if "yes" or "no" wins, the Russians can claim their side won.

"Oh, they said 'no' that means Crimea did not agree to be part of Ukraine"

"Oh, they said 'yes' that means Crimea is free to declare independence"

Obviously both answers could also be interpreted as pro-Ukrainian as well.

At least the wording has been changed now to be far less vague.

[Хahar 🤔]

Where are Russian troops stationed right now?

[Хahar 🤔]

So... Crimea votes to join Russia, so Russia recognizes Crimea as an independent nation? Confused...

It would be untoward for Russia to unilaterally annex part of a foreign state; instead, it is opting to grant the request of independent Crimea to join the Russian Federation.

[Хahar 🤔]

Sevastopol and Tavriya Simferopol plan to join the Russian Premier League.

[Хahar 🤔]

FIBA has announced the relocation of EuroBasket 2015 from the Ukraine.

[Хahar 🤔]

At first glance it seems odd that Crimea will be moving their clocks ahead two hours.  Granted, the change in time zone is one more way of emphasizing they are not Ukraine, but a change of one hour would accomplish that.  However Russia for some weird reason is on permanent daylight savings, so if they only shifted one hour they'd be sharing the same time as Ukraine during the summer.  So instead of having a time zone close to solar time, the Crimea will be close to two hours ahead because of stupid politics that will keep them from having a reasonable time zone.

Russia (or at least western Russia) is on double summer time, isn't it? The first shift happened around when the USSR was formed and the second happened recently.

[Хahar 🤔]

It also shows what a pointless joke the UN has become.

Please stop talking and come back when you figure out what the United Nations actually does.

[Хahar 🤔]

It also shows what a pointless joke the UN has become.

Please stop talking and come back when you figure out what the United Nations actually does.

In my lifetime, the only thing I have seen the UN "do" is make itself a forum for third world crackpots and tyrants to blame the west for their problems.

Here, I'll help you out. Have you noticed that smallpox isn't a thing anymore? Who do you think is responsible for that?

[Хahar 🤔]

It also shows what a pointless joke the UN has become.

Please stop talking and come back when you figure out what the United Nations actually does.

In my lifetime, the only thing I have seen the UN "do" is make itself a forum for third world crackpots and tyrants to blame the west for their problems.

Here, I'll help you out. Have you noticed that smallpox isn't a thing anymore? Who do you think is responsible for that?

Seriously?  Not the UN.

Who, then?

[Хahar 🤔]

Moreover, it is literally wrong to claim that because Edward Jenner discovered the smallpox vaccine that the United Nations was not responsible for the eradication of the disease.

[Хahar 🤔]

It also shows what a pointless joke the UN has become.

Please stop talking and come back when you figure out what the United Nations actually does.

In my lifetime, the only thing I have seen the UN "do" is make itself a forum for third world crackpots and tyrants to blame the west for their problems.

Here, I'll help you out. Have you noticed that smallpox isn't a thing anymore? Who do you think is responsible for that?

Seriously?  Not the UN.

Who, then?

Was this hint deliberate?

Well done.