Blog #8 Crimea is No Longer the Problem

Summary

The annexation of Crimea is no longer the center of the Ukraine’s crisis. It seems as if Vladimir Putin has closed the sale on Crimea. Instead the worlds efforts are focused immediately on the gathering Russian military troops, by the thousands, at Ukraine’s eastern borders. World leaders are too distracted with the potential armed conflict to focus on reversing Crimea’s annexation. Russia claims only to be practicing military exercise with a few thousand troops, while many regions say that Russia has a little as 33,000 troops and as many as 80,000, a far cry from a few. The Ukraine crises arises form the dissolving of the soviet union nearly two decades ago. Ukraine’s populations is deeply divided from a densely Russian population in the east, to a more ethnically Ukraine population in the west that includes Kiev, Ukraine’s Capital. During the protests early this year, Russia claimed that the Crimea population was at risk and need their protection. They invaded Crimea, taking over military bases and governmental operations. The protests ended. They have not left. Crimea’s Annexation is now complete and Putin has announced that Russia will take action to protect ethnic Russians from alleged attacks elsewhere. As troops gather near the borders, we must wonder, where is elsewhere? And where does it end?

Analysis

Is this a trap? It feels like a trap. The annexation of Crimea has been finalized and Russia is mounting on it borders as if it is about to spring. Russia has Crimea, could it be that they are distracting the world long enough to forget that they took Crimea? Or causing enough uproar that we would be glad to let them take Crimea if they would just stop? Either one seems like it possibly a part of a larger plan. To what extent does Putin mean, “to protect ethnic Russians”? Does he mean the immediate countries surrounding Russia, the former Soviet Union? Could he possibly be talking about the content of Europe or the world? Yes that is a far reach, but due to global immigration there are ethnic Russia’s on every continent. Russia’s intentions are not clear and are purposely vague. The west is failing to respond appropriately due to this. Scrambling to respond to the immediate threat, while Russia is already a step a head. Russia is not stupid. They may be a few years behind on the technological and economic scale, but they are not stupid. Yep, this is definitely a trap. 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/31/politics/crimea-explainer/index.html?iid=article_si