The political situation in the Ukraine is very complicated. For example, in 1944 Joseph Stalin deported about 200,000 Tartars from Crimea to the Ukraine. He believed they were Nazi collaborators. The Tartars have long memories and they have not forgotten. The Tartars view the ethnic Russians Putin is trying to protect in the Crimea as illegal occupiers.
The following Wikipedia article provides some insight on the history of the tartars:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatars
Technically the correct name for the Tartars is the Tatars. One will note that the Tatars, like the Chechens, are Muslim. One will also note that they have been raising havoc since the days of Genghis Khan. The media, as always, is oblivious about this. The other night I had the opportunity to talk to a young Russian couple. I asked them about the Ukraine. The husband surprised me by saving some of the protests were saying things similar to what the Nazis believed. This couple was very pro-American and they were no fans of Putin. But they were genuinely concerned about some of the people leading those demonstration. So I did a little research and up popped the Tartars. Suddenly his comments started to make sense.
I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise. Every revolution probably has some people who should be feared. I wonder how many people realize that after the fall of the Tsars, Russia had a Republic. But what happened is that the communists were not interested in sharing power, they were only interested in seizing power. They continued fighting until ultimately they gained absolute power.
Regardless of the reason, the invasion of the Crimea by Russia is bad news. It is clear that Putin is trying to increase power at the expense of the United States. It is also clear that Putin does not respect Barack Obama. Whatever happens it is unlikely to be in response to anything done by President Obama or Secretary of State Kerry. We should keep in mind that the reasoning used by Putin to invade Crimea is nearly identical to what Hitler used to justify invading the Sudetenland.
But this is not 1938 and Vladimir Putin is not Adolph Hitler. He may dream of reviving the old Soviet Union, but his military isn’t nearly strong enough to pull that off. Today he may have gained control of the Crimea, but he made a lot of enemies in the process. The most likely result in the Crimea is a full-fledged-civil war. Putin may soon discover that the cost of maintaining control in Crimea may be more than he can bear.
The only thing certain at this point is the biggest losers. That would be Barack Obama and John Kerry. They have been exposed as naïve, inexperienced and worthless. The western countries, particularly those strong democracies who know full well the cost of being dominated by the Soviet Union will go to war with Putin. This will not be a shooting war, but it will be war. And in any war there will be casualties, lots of casualties. They will take it on, but they won’t bother waiting for leadership from the United States. The most powerful nation in the history of the world is now mostly irrelevant. That may change in the future, but it won’t change until the President of the United States is someone other than Barack Hussein Obama.
The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy. The world did not necessarily like us, but they respected us and they feared us. Now they just laugh at us and ignore us. In the meantime, whatever happens in Crimea, don’t over-look the Tartars. People have been underestimating them for centuries.
TDM