Armed men take control of Crimean Airport

I hope this gets resolved without any more bloodshed, but I also really hope the Ukrainians don't just bend over to the Russians. Fuck Putin, I've said it before, that guy needs a bullet in his skull.

I could see the Ukraine giving up Crimea, but true Ukrainians would never just give up their land to the Russians. The hate they have for Russia runs very deep.
 
I think that they're banking on the fact that the Ukrainian military is in shambles- They don't want blood, and are willing to bet (as am I) that Ukraine will just give up Crimea.
 
I see what you're saying but thats a very one-sided view. A large part of the Ukranian population is still very loyal to Russia. The Kiev Riots sorta make it seem like all ukies hate russia but thats not true. Many Ukranians still identify as "Russians without a Russian passport", especially the older population and a lot of the people in southern Ukraine (ie Crimea)

here's a pretty decent explanation from imgur/reddit. see the yellow and blue map

http://imgur.com/gallery/qCXlb
 
@bbcmarkmardell

"US State Dept says they are preparing to put sanctions on Russia and are "moving down that path"

 
I love how the US is trying to punish Russia with "Sanctions," i'm no economy expert but i'm pretty sure it's not gonna hurt Russia that much.
 
A cut in any countries trade can be harmful. I imagine that the sanctions would entail such things as a decrease in imports and exports among other things.

Additionally, FIFA may take World Cup sanctions.
 
That is true. One key difference though, puerto ricans are American citezens, and they are literally pushing to become a state.

Now i know the U.S. has done some fucked up shit when it comes to cold war politics, but at this current moment in time i think Russia is the greatest threat to freedom and prosperity on the planet.
 
The difference will be if russia stops with crimea or continuous deeper in to Ukraine. Poland may choose to try and help defend Ukraine before they get fucked again, which will lead to larger conflict no doubt.

I think that Russia will stop with Crimea, but there is a good chance this action will excite putin and others related to the issue, possibly causing more conflict

Right now it looks like russia is trying to bait Ukraine in to some action. Im pretty sure they want Ukraine to shoot down a russian plane over their restricted airbase because they keep sending jets over illegally

Shits def getting hot and everyone knows it.

-Russia lost a LOT of money today (stocks 5 year lows) because of their actions

-Putin is prob pissed about negative press at Sochi

-Putin wants the Crimea region because of its tacti-cool location on the sea

(my belief is they have some sort of weapons cache or nuke silo there as well)

-If a nation of NATO is attacked (Poland) on their land, Article V will be declared

(allied nations will be forced to react)

-Even China is trying to tell us to resolve the conflict without use of force

(me think they dont want to have to choose between Russia and everyone else. Given a normal situation they would side with Russia, however this situation is uncalled for and puts them in a very bad spot with western states, who they heavily rely on. I virtually can not think of who would ally with Russia besides north korea [who i doubt a smart man like putin wants])

-German Merkel has said she thinks the US and Germany should send a force to ukraine to "check out the situation"

(terrible idea in my mind, asking for trouble. Germans up to no good)

We are looking at a flashpoint. One wrong publication or shot fired and things can tumble very quickly.

(for example the fake russian ultimatum that was published today is saying that if ukraine does not surrender crimea by 5am russia will go full offensive , this is false)

 
BTW the title of the video says "Russian choppers over a Crimean bay"

Also, just to clarify, the crimean minister requested for Russian military assistance the other day. Crimea will be holding a democratic election later this march to determine whether or not to become a fully autonomous state. Hopefully this will all end without further tensions.
 
Yea, like I said before, it looks like they'll stop with Crimea (hopefully) but it will be interesting to see if Putin-

1- Takes it in full Russian control

"I am now your president"

2- Allows them to vote for:

A-New Crimean gov (Satellite country of Ru)

B-Russian gov (Part of Ru)

3- Instates new Gov for Crimea

"Here is your new beloved leader!" (aka putin puts a friend in power over Crimea)

It should be noted that Russia had an agreement for military base in the region of crimea with ukraine under the condition that russia supply ukraine with cheap gas. It seems that the unrest has made russia decide they wont be able to uphold their part of the deal, so russia is saying "were not gonna get fucked over because you guys are busy revolting, were taking the whole region"
 
If anybody is in Canada right now the CBC coverage is awesome. Two correspondents on the ground in Crimea and full updates as the day goes on.
 
Uh... their stock market dropped 11%, just in reaction to CONCERNS about a potential conflict in the Ukraine. Still dropping. Their currency has been devalued. And no sanctions have even been imposed yet. Russia is incredibly fragile economically, always has been, and is more reliant on the West than it ever has been.

Economic warfare can do far more damage to Russia than conventional warfare can, practically speaking. Actually engaging, or even threatening to (i.e. troop / carrier movements) will just end badly for everyone involved, especially the USA; there's no political will for a physical intervention.

In contrast, what can Russia do in response to economic sanctions? Not much, besides shutting off the gas to eastern and central Europe, which would hurt them as much as anyone else.
 


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Ukraine's ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting that he use the Russian military to restore law and order in Ukraine, Moscow's U.N. envoy said on Monday.

"Under the influence of Western countries, there are open acts of terror and violence," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin quoted the letter from Yanukovich to Putin in an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

"People are being persecuted for language and political reasons," he quoted the letter as saying. "So in this regard I would call on the President of Russia, Mr. Putin, asking him to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine."

Churkin held up a copy of the letter for council members to see.

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-yanukovich-asks-putin-russian-military-ukraine-211358499.html

Well then. Thats ironic.
 
i think its a lot different from the georgia thingy in 2008.

the point is that ukraine has a lot stronger bonds to europe. the whole starting point of this situation was mainly the desire of the ukrainian people to join the EU and/or get closer to its western neighbors and decrease russian influence.

furthermore, important gas pipelines run through ukraine and if russia gains more influence, it will change the situation here for almost the entirety of europe.

the EU, several important countries in the NATO/UN have a lot more to lose this time and have a lot more stakes in this. they have to "punish"/threat russia in some kind, yet cannot carry out their threats.
 
Well England.....

The government will not curb trade with Russia or close London's financial centre to Russians as part of any possible package of sanctions against Moscow, according to an official document.

The document, which was photographed as a senior official carried it into a meeting in Downing Street, says that "the UK should not support for now trade sanctions or close London's financial centre to Russians", while it confirms that ministers ARE considering - along with other EU countries - visa restrictions and travel bans on key Russian figures.

It also says that ministers should "discourage any discussion (eg at Nato) of contingency military preparations" and support "contingency EU work on providing Ukraine with alternative gas" and oil supplies "if Russia cuts them off".

Until now ministers have made no specific threats of action against Russia and Downing Street have stressed the need to keep open the possibility of de-escalating the crisis.

The prime minister said this afternoon that Russia would face "diplomatic, political, economic and other pressures" to send a "clear message" about its actions in the Ukraine.

'Significant costs'The reason for this form of words is clear. Public statements should for now be kept "generic", the document says, whereas specific threats should be "contingent and used for private messaging".

This is in stark contrast to the specific hardline threats made by US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday.

One senior government source told me: "We prefer to speak softly and carry a big stick."

They stressed that European countries were pursuing a deliberate policy of showing to Russia that de-escalation was still possible whilst being clear that "significant costs" would follow if Moscow does not seek a peaceful conclusion to its dispute with Ukraine.

I understand that the prime minister hopes to speak to Germany's Chancellor Merkel tonight. The German attitude is regarded as crucial since they are traditionally in favour of a less confrontational approach to Russia and are heavily dependent on Russian gas and oil.

Downing Street is refusing to comment on a secret document though I understand that other scenarios were considered at a meeting of the National Security Council today

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-26426969

 
this is like saying "you do realize Canada likes having Harper as their leader?"

I'm also not speaking as a Russian.

Mugabe enjoys support in Zimbabwe, but I also think he deserves a bullet in his head.
 
If Japan, or Saudi Arabia, or any other country in which we have a large military force of tremendous strategic importance, was taken over by an anti-american coalition, we would want to secure our military assets as well.

Russia is simply making sure its interests and infrastructure remain unchanged. Its a massive, strategically important base that they need to protect. The best way to do that is to make sure the whole peninsula doesnt turn into a shitshow of violence and revolution.

Folks need to mellow out. America has done this shit before under the guise of a "peace keeping mission".
 
I think that russia needs to focus on making its own country less shitty before it goes into the ukraine. there are massive fricken heroine problems and a wealth gap larger than the us. the russian rouble is at an all time low compared to the dollar. invading the ukraine is just going to spend money russia doesnt have.
 
If you guys are still calling it 'the Ukraine,' your opinion carries no weight. At least learn the name of the country before you start speculating about its future..
 
Putin Karma: 11

i think the west will let this situation just slip through the cracks because russia could gain an extra port and some other land sea benefits but the US has no intrest in this land, and russia isn't gaining massive military mite from this little stunt. Putin already has thrown his countries towel in in regards to their 'karma' for lack of a better term.

all in all this little stunt might step on some toes in the eyes of some Ukrainians, and i could see it escalating to a situation similar to the israeli-Palestinian conflict minus some years and a large body count.
 
No, but I think the US feels that they need to play world cop all the time. Unfortunately many countries look to the US for help in a lot of situations.

I'd say more so the UN would intervene rather than the US itself.
 
Also, Hi-five to the NS community for being interested in news and interested in gathering from many sources. As a journalism major who is about to graduate it makes me happy to see people actually getting news from more than one place (US and abroad). Too many people in our generation (for me I'd say 17-24, I realize some of you arent in that demographic) are too uninformed and dont care in many situations.

So, nice job Newschoolers
 
putins presser is all over the place. hes acting like he holds 20 different titles, from official president of gazprom, to PR manager for ukraine, to "protector of our ukrainian brethren".

kinda interesting how his advisors decided to portray him. just a chair and two flags, no decoration or other symbols of power. obviously they think about stuff like that and i think that they just want to show him as a small, "regular" guy, without unnecessary displays of military strength.

he also brings up a good point in that the US intervened in a lot of countries wihtout a UN mandate as well. obviously there was a shitstorm as well, but noone blamed the US for putting "the world at war" like people do with russia. not saying that either action is good or bad,

 
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