The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© 2014 AFPWest warns Russia ahead of 'illegal' east Ukraine votes
SEVASTOPOL©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© 2014 AFP
28 Comments
Login to comment
Chenchan
Here's how 'referendum' works when Russia is involved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imcyNGvbPGw
You can see thousands of already marked ballots ready to be delivered.
avigator
They make it sound like Russia is the evil when in fact, all the Pussy Riots were instigated from the West to achieve the results of ousting the pro-Russia president. EU and NATO just want to expand like a cancer and eat up countries wealths. See related article.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/107349/russias-wild-fantasies-all-powerful-state-department
badsey3
The referendum vote is May 11th. =the people are not going to put this vote off and allow the violence to continue.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/10/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/?hpt=hp_t1
noriyosan73
Another "PINK" line in the sand from the West. Pink meaning, well, maybe, if ..... Putin has his hand on the natural gas valve and he is not afraid off turning off the supply. Europe knows it, the USA knows it, and Putin knows it. The Economic Cold War is going to be won by Putin and the "Back in the USSR" is where he wants the lost children to return.
bass4funk
So you're saying, Russia didn't go in with troops to take over and finally annex the Crimea? It was all some funny joke?
No, I think you have that twisted upside down. You think Putin really cares about Ukraine in the bigger picture? I think he cares far more about his inflating ego.
John Galt
Let the people decide.
Kazuaki Shimazaki
@bassfunk Let's trace it, shall it? President Y, which was legitimately elected, said that he isn't really for joining the EU while he's in power because it would damage relationships with Russia. This is an intelligent decision that did not quite deserve him being forced out of office by an Ukie mob.
When he is, instead of acting with a trace of non-hypocrisy, the West instantly backed the new government.
At the point, the gloves are off.
FizzBit
Hey Bass......FYI
Russia has had a base in Crimea with 15,000 troops for years.
And like Kazuaki said, after the Victoria Nuland/neo-nazi coup in Kiev, the gloves are off.
Sidekick
So, you're saying Russia didn't go in with troops to take over and finally annex the Crimea
Excuse me, but what is your point ? What is the purpose to talk about Russian troops in Crimea again and again? Well, soldiers had blocked all possible attempts to start clashes and civil war between locals and nationalists from Kiev and western regions of Ukraine, before local people started a referendum. Troopers locked and secured the borderline between Crimea and the Ukraine and caught armed groups of radicals and NAZIs from western parts of the Ukraine. People in Crimea voted to join Russian Federation and now they are happy to be in Russia, living in a calm and peaceful region. Perhaps you are aware that Crimea is an old resort, now people from all part of Russia ride on famous Crimean beaches to spend holidays and vacations. Many locals work in hotels, restaurants etc collecting money by servicing tourists. In short, everything is good in Crimea and mind you, locals feel themselves much more comfortable and better than it took place under Ukranian rule before the referendum. Now take a look at Eastern and Southern Ukraine where the real civil war is going on. What is about Odessa where neo NAZIs stormed Trade Union building and burned people to ashes while screaming NAZI slogans? So, what are you going to tell us? Old fairy tales of US State Department about "Evil Russians"?
SuperLib
Hard to say what will happen next except for chaos. All of the different pro-Russian leaders don't seem to have any unified plan for the future. Polls have always said that the people in the East prefer to be unified, and only a very low percentage actually want to join Russia. My guess is that the "will of the people" won't necessarily be reflected in the new votes.
Jim Poushinsky
When did it become illegal for people in a democracy to have a referendum to determine if the majority in a region support a political solution concerning that region?
bass4funk
So Putin is the hero in all of this (right) so let's give the man perfect legitimacy to annex any sovereign country he wants whenever he wants. So what's next? Should we have a national parade for this joker? Some of you guys tickle me to death.
So that gives him the right just scoop it up like the flavor of the week? But if the U.S. did that to Cuba, you libs would have a **** fit, right? And the beat of hypocrisy goes round and round.
Sidekick
let's give the man perfect legitimacy to annex any sovereign country he wants
First of all, most people of Crimea expressed a desire to be annexed. They wished to join Russia and organized a referendum. Second, there is no indication that Putin wishes to annex "any sovereign country".
So, that gives him the right
Do not forget, prior to 1954 Crimea was a part of Russia. Nikita Khruschev illegaly "made a gift" to Ukraine. His action violated the Constitution of the USSR. Technically speaking, Putin regained Russian soil.
horizon360
Territorial integration of Crimea and the Russian Republic is historically, economically, demographically, and democratically justified. The Russian naval base at Sebastopol represents the only anchor economic support for the region. The population is almost exclusively Russian speaking descendants of Russian speaking ancestors. This is not like the situation of the iron curtain Soviet satellites countries which were not linked to Russian history or culture but effectively became captives at the end of WWII. The Kiev based Ukrainians who want their nation to look west and foster an EU identity should see this as their chance. Ukraine could never "become" European and have a Russian military base. One or the other. Western economic and political sanctions are unnecessary and wasteful as a bulwark against further territorial shifts since they won't happen anyway. If Russia responded in kind and cut off all natural gas exports to Germany even for a year the entire EU economy would be knocked to its knees. Global commodity prices would skyrocket and resource rich Russia would benefit. Crimea is not (and does not want to be) the backyard of the Ukraine the EU or the US.
Posted in: Forget the drama: A solution for Crimea horizon360 Apr. 08, 2014 - 01:02PM JST
TokyoDiman
Its painfully obvious that any danger of a full blown civil war will be directly caused by the west if they do not get their way. Russia is damned if it does (helps people democratically hold referendums to decide their own fate) And damned if it doesn't (stays out of this mess entirely...still will be seen as cause in effect of what Putin has done by unleashing forces he cannot control) It seems a new world order is coming and the EU and US are the new dictatorship of Europe. Any country that stays in its way is deemed evil and will be destroyed via sanctions or coups.
FizzBit
Bass, everything is not black and white. Know one here thinks Putin is a hero. That is just putting words in other peoples mouths and quite childish.
goldeneagle
citizens, the people, peaceful crowds
yet protestors in East Ukraine are all referred to as;
terrorists, insurgents, angry mobs
Western propaganda used to be more subtle and tactful. Now it's so simplistic, it's painfully obvious that Western governments and media have a double standard on protesting and voting.
Yet, there are still those that gobble up media propaganda as gospel truth.
Couldn't agree more
Daniel Naumoff
I am delighted to see that most people are sane enough to see the truth with Ukraine. Whoever is trying to "defend" their current government, I'd like to know how Fascistic reign coming from Kiev does good for humanity itself. Really, Any good point and consider yourself smarter than ones who fought them back in 40-45.
SuperLib
The polls not only cover all areas of the Ukraine (including Crimea), but also has specific breakdowns for responses from Russian-only speakers.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/05/08/despite-concerns-about-governance-ukrainians-want-to-remain-one-country/
May I ask who told you that they didn't use Russian and only went to specific areas?
overchan
I read news of many websites, seeing videos from liveleak and youtube and many other places. What i see is that news networks are always biased, Cnn, theguardian, AP, RT etc. They tend to give the story of their respective governments. But whats happening in Ukraine is going to be a mess, the other day what happened in Odessa was misinformed by most mayor news agency, but those who saw the videos about the burning know what happened, many people were strangled and shot when they tried to flee. and what did I see in western news is that they avoided how the story really happened, they avoided that 100% of the dead people were separatists burnt, shot and strangled by the euromaidan. Now there comes the word Neo-Nazi. Believe it or not. the word is taking strength like It did back in WW2 when soviets lost 18million people. I see old women trying to stop tanks. OLD WOMEN TRYING TO STOP TANKS. This will get ugly.
Jim Poushinsky
The people of the world want peaceful resolution of conflicts, not war! Such peaceful resolution must be based on respect for basic human rights. In this case it is the people of the Ukraine whose human rights are being violated, and they need help from the United Nations to restore and maintain peace as a precondition to negotiating the best solution for all in the present Ukraine. Let Russia and the West agree to support UN peacekeepers, and agree to abide by the solutions arrived at in reasoned discussions based on respect for individual human rights. This needs to happen in all present conflicts, and in the future before any descent into killing and war. A peaceful humanity without armed forces and weapons of mass destruction would be able to reallocate its resources to eliminate suffering and transcend the negativity enslaving and destroying our planet. If all 8 billion of us insist on peaceful resolution of disagreements based on mutual respect and reasoned discussion, it will be so!
YuriOtani
Looks like the cold war 2 is about to start and Japan like it or not is linked to the west. There is not going to be a peace treaty between Japan and Russia. In theory Russia could attack Japan because there is still a "state of war". My question is what will Putin do after the Eastern Ukraine is annexed? Does he desire the entire Ukraine? How about the other former Warsaw pact countries?