Ukraine

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Putin Escalates the Crisis in the Ukraine


Vladimir Putin said he would respect the vote taken in the Eastern Ukraine.  Well, of course he will!  It suits his purposes!  NATO, the United Nations have once again taken an entirely impotent stance.  Let’s work this out diplomatically, they say.  Are you kidding me?  Have you seen those masked cowards who have taken over the cities in Eastern Ukraine?  Do you really believe they care a wit about negotiations and diplomacy?  They care about one thing and one thing only, being annexed by Russia.

But let us be very clear about one thing.  Soldiers, even in a civil or revolutionary army do not cover their faces.  The fight openly and proudly for their cause.  You can take two things by these masked cowards:  they are cowards, or, they are actually Russian military sent in to disrupt proper Ukrainian law and order.  I am betting on the latter.  But I also believe there are some cowardly Ukrainian citizens who want to be a part of Russia who are masking their face.  Still, if Russia had any respect for another country’s sovereignty, it would categorically declare itself neutral and stay out of the fight.  I suspect that quite the opposite is happening.  I suspect Russia is supplying arms and other assistance to the rebel cause.

What’s in this for Russia.  In truth, I do not think they are all that interested in the eastern portion of the Ukraine but rather that part of the country which borders the Black Sea.  Their taking of Crimea was only the first step in realizing that goal.  The Russian regime is little more than a bunch of thugs and bullies with Vladimir Putin leading the charge.

As much as the U.S. and its allies do not need another war right now, we have an ally in the Ukraine and they are almost in desperate straits.  How long before we, NATO, UN, ask Ukraine exactly what and how much help they need, and then send it to them in force.

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Is History Repeating Itself in the Ukraine?


It is said that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it.  In 1938 Adolph Hitler annexed a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland.  His claim was that it was mostly inhabited by ethnic Germans which was true.  The Czech government lacked the military authority to resist the takeover.  England and France railed at this action, which Hitler called Anschluss, but did nothing of consequence.  Of course that was only the first step in Hitler’s desire to control all of Eastern Europe which history tells us he eventually did by late 1939.  In 1940 he turned on his “ally,” Stalin, and invaded the Soviet Union.  Prior to Hitler’s invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland he amassed his troops along the borders of those countries.  He invaded Poland on the premise that the Poles had actually attacked first, a total fabrication of course.

It is scary to watch the events taking place along the Russian and Ukraine border and not find the parallels with 1938 and 1939.  Putin has send at least 40,000 troops to that border region.  What are his intentions?  The Ukrainians have shown absolutely not hostile intent towards Russia.  To wit, thus far, they have acquiesced to Russia’s takeover of the Crimea.  To be sure, Crimea is mostly ethnic Russians but the land itself belongs to the Ukraine.  Russia has with malice taken territory sovereign to the Ukrainian republic.

Respect of a countries borders though a time-honored tradition is replete with skirmishes and wars over those borders.  Russia’s history tells us they have been particularly pugnacious is that respect.  The Czars of Russia felt it their right to occupy Poland and other lands they claimed some ancient, albeit specious, right to.  The old Soviet Union occupied much of Eastern Europe after 1945 by simply refusing to remove its troops following the defeat of Germany.  While countries like Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania continued to exist as entities, the did so only as puppets of the Soviet regime.  And even when Soviet troops were removed, those troops of any particular country were always subservient to the Russian army and the desires of the Kremlin.  The Hungarian uprising of 1956 showed the desire of the general population to remove itself from Soviet control only to be put down.

It is my fear the Putin and his Russian government is seeking a return to the days of the old Soviet.  We must remember that Putin is a product of that old regime.  He rose to prominence within the KGB.  The despotism and authoritarianism of the old Soviet seems to still exist within the likes of Putin.  It would not be surprising to find that Putin’s true desire is to return Russia to the old Soviet style government.  Wise men caution us that the best way to judge what a person is going to do is by what he has done in the past.

As much as I despise the idea of war, I think the United States and its allies need to ask the Ukrainian government if it would like a NATO presence in its country to protect against any Russian ideas of invasion.  If there is one thing NATO learn well, hopefully, during the cold-war years, is that a strong military presence facing its foes is an excellent deterrent.  The United States, in particular, needs to state that it is willing to at least offer, and follow through, such support.

The people of the Ukraine have the right to self-determination and the Russian government has absolutely no right to any land sovereign to the Ukrainian people.

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Crisis in the Urkraine — Part 2


Depending upon who you ask, the Crimea is either still a part of the Ukraine or a part of Russia.  Fortunately the events which brought about this situation all happened in the past 6 months meaning they should all be fresh in everyone’s mind.  It started with the Ukrainian people toppling their pro-Russian President and replacing him with a popular official.  This unrest within the Ukraine gave President Putin all the ammunition he needed to stir up a little trouble in Crimea, and that he did.  And just to put a sharp point on his intensions, he sent thousands of Russian troops to the area.  He was obviously provoking the government of the Ukraine into doing something aggressive.  But he was also offering solace to the large population of Russians who live in Crimea.  The message being, “Feel safe.  We are here for  you.”  It did not matter to him that any incursi0n on the sovereign soil of the Ukraine was an act of war, regardless of the vote the Crimean parliament took.  Crimea was, and is, the lawful territory of the Ukrainian people.  Putin has snubbed his nose at a country’s right to sovereignty by placing his troops on the Ukrainian military compounds while running out the Ukrainian troops.  He is daring the Ukrainian government, and anyone else, to do something about it.

The U.S. response to all this was to first put sanctions of many Russian businessmen who do business in the U.S.  Then they made a number of Russian diplomats persona non grata who were ordered to leave the U.S.  And finally, we are sending troops to Lithuania and the Ukraine.  It would not surprise me that troops will be placed in Poland as well.  The Ukraine is not a part of NATO however it borders countries which are to include Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Turkey, all of whom have a vested interest in maintaining peace in their sphere of influence.  And all, except Turkey, have no desire to once again fall under the rule of Moscow after they worked so hard to escape it.

One fear I have heard is that this could be the beginning of a whole new “cold war.”  I hope not but having armed camps along the Russian, Ukrainian, and Crimean borders certainly makes things look that way.  Is this Russia testing the waters to possibly re-occupying a country like Belarus?  Estonia? Latvia?  Putin has absolutely no good excuse for sending his troops into a foreign country regardless of what the residents of that area voted.  No only is it an act of aggression, but an unmistakable act of war.

But we in the U.S. have declared ourselves to be the ally of the Ukrainian people.  And to that end we must give them all the support, within reason, that they need.  This is a case, however, where war materials, along with adequate training are about as far as we should go.  This is not our war but the Ukrainians are our friends, and we must respect all their requests.

The only acceptable result is a total Russian withdrawal from Crimea.

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Crisis in the Ukraine


When the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, countries that had no been independent for over 100 years came into being.  Regardless, all were looking for truly democratic governments as a replacement for the totalitarian government they had existed under.  Old republics like Kazakhstan which was brought under Russian rule in 1867, had no residents who could remember their independence.  Regardless of the circumstances, such republics necessarily undergo growing pains as they feel their way through independence. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 1783.  Prior to that they had been a part of the Ottoman Empire.  The predominant ethnic group in Crimea had been the Tatars.  The Tatars were a Turkish speaking group who could trace their routes to Genghis Khan and the Mongols.  By contrast, the largest percentage of Ukrainians are what used to be called the “Ruthenians,” predecessors to the Russians.  And prior to its inclusion in the USSR, it had been rules by the Lithuanians, Poles, and Crimeans.  It is difficult to understand the conditions that exist today without the historic background being included.

The Ukraine has been an autonomous and independent republic since 1991.  Its borders, like that of many of its neighbors, were arbitrarily decided by 20th century definitions circa 1920.  If all this sounds rather confusing then I have made my point.  Border disputes right here in the United States have gone unresolved for hundreds of years.  For example, New Jersey claims it is the rightful owner of the island upon which the Statue of Liberty stands.  Similarly, a small island between New Hampshire and Maine, where significant portions of the Portsmouth Naval Yard exist, is in dispute between the two states.  When you are at a distance from any of these locations, it can be very difficult to understand what all the fuss is about.  This could  not be more true about Crimea.

What is presently occurring in the Ukraine with Crimea is entirely an internal civil dispute.  Unfortunately, President Putin has inserted himself into the dispute throwing it into even more turmoil.  And his insertion of Russian troops into Crimea is clearly a violation of another country’s sovereignty.  If, for example, Poland decided it had ancient rights to Kaliningrad, the old Polish city of Królewiec, President Putin would be beside himself in anger.

The U.S. options in this unfortunate dispute are actually rather limited.  We can, and should, impose economic sanctions on Russia if it continues to keep troops inside Ukrainian borders.  U.S. military options are, or should be, non-existent.  The U.S. and other countries should flex their political and economic might in support of the Ukraine as much as possible.  After that, the affairs with the Ukraine’s borders must be played out by its own people.