The best New York Times column on Russia and Ukraine
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NYT Borises are at it again
https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/nyt-russia-is-winning
https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/nyt-admits-sanctions-have-been-a-failure
https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/nyt-russian-economy-defeated-the-sanctions
https://www.econjobrumors.com/topic/nyt-us-believes-ucraine-was-behind-dugina-assassination -
"Some even propose to chase Russia out of Crimea. That would promise a new kind of mission for NATO: the conquest, annexation and garrisoning of a population that doesn’t want it."
Here he went full Boris. Not only does Ukraine need not to annex Crimia legally speaking, the vote was a sham too.
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Most of the people on both sides are either too old to really be affected by the destruction (après nous le déluge), or are young enough and courageous, but too inexperienced to understand their realistic possibilities - the possibilities that serves the people they're responsible for more than their own egos.
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"Some even propose to chase Russia out of Crimea. That would promise a new kind of mission for NATO: the conquest, annexation and garrisoning of a population that doesn’t want it."
Here he went full Boris. Not only does Ukraine need not to annex Crimia legally speaking, the vote was a sham too.Crimea is/was full of hardcore vatniks, though, so he has a point.
Not sure we should care about what vatniks think or how invariant their vatnicism is to having Ukrainian liberators on their doorstep, but personally I think Ukrainian command and political leadership should really think this through. Turning it into ashes and then having to deal with hostile population is obviously suboptimal.
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"Some even propose to chase Russia out of Crimea. That would promise a new kind of mission for NATO: the conquest, annexation and garrisoning of a population that doesn’t want it."
Here he went full Boris. Not only does Ukraine need not to annex Crimia legally speaking, the vote was a sham too.Crimea is/was full of hardcore vatniks, though, so he has a point.
Not sure we should care about what vatniks think or how invariant their vatnicism is to having Ukrainian liberators on their doorstep, but personally I think Ukrainian command and political leadership should really think this through. Turning it into ashes and then having to deal with hostile population is obviously suboptimal. -
In the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum 54.19% voted yes in Crimea. I know it's a generation ago but was the shift so large?
yes. Here is the promise by George Bush Sr. from the time of the referendum. "Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism. They will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred."
Once it became clear that he just lied, people in Crimea tried to express their preferences.
They tried to run a referendum in 1992 and elected their own President Meshkov who favored close ties with Russia. Only in 95, the Ukraine intervened, reduced their autonomy and sent Meshkov into exile.