Irishbeekeeper

Things are fast going bad in that already volatile area.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26405635

I ofcourse on a personal level wouldn't want any type of war but I find it highly hypocritical of the septics to come off 2 major invasions of foreign countries in the past decade and then try and dictate terms to anyone about not invading anyone

Realistically speaking though, in case of Russia moving in, which it probably has, Crimea would want to revert back to Russian rule, which I am told is what they have always wanted.

mikewot

With the situation in Ukraine, particularly the Crimea, the British Government has decided to mobilise the Territorial Army.

The aim is to be ready by 2020.

I don't mean Zulu time.

shiva

Not as true as the media would have us believe. Russians in the Crimea are in the minority and recent studies showed that while the area identified more with Russian culture they very clearly wished to remain under Ukrainian rule.
There are also reports of large numbers of random people being bussed into the area over the last few weeks who are turning up to these pro Russian rallies yet don't know their way around the towns they are supposedly from.
Whilst unconfirmed it's exactly the sort of shit Putin would and has pulled before.

Ossetia anyone!

Irishbeekeeper

Well the hotel rooms would be at a great bargain price right now

Oh and btw :

Newly appointed head of Ukrainian Navy swears allegiance to Crimea in presence of its unrecognised prime minister.

Millhouse

Russia might be expelled from the G8. Means we can then go and smash Syria to bits.

War generally keeps me employed - but I must say, I'm a bit worried about the number of wars cropping up all over the place. Kicking Russia out of the G8 would be the start of another cold war-- and one the west is in no position to fight.

NorthernLad

A good scrap would be a boost for the economy. And to be honest, none of the proper weapons have been tested yet. The goat herders were just target practice.

Boomhauer

I was looking at maps that break down regions of Ukraine along linguistic lines and Crimea is the most predominantly Russian speaking area followed by Eastern Ukraine which is also predominantly Russian.

I do not know if the people want to join Russia but there have been mass pro Russian demonstrations in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Even if these people do not want to join Russia , they can't be pleased with being under the rule of Western Ukrainian forces that have now attained power not through the ballot box.

Victoria Nuland the US Asst. Sec. of State for European and Eurassian affairs was exposed privately insulting the EU for not getting behind US plans the opposition and the government.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957

I think the US should butt out and let the EU ,Ukraine and Russia deal with a European issue.

shiva

It's a miasma for sure and history yet again repeating itself and again in the same geographical areas.
US foregin policy seems to be designed to **** things up but in this case I'd rather they were involved, the EU is useless and Putin is clearly seeking to rebuild the old ussr by one means or another.
One of the issues of Russian speaking areas is that all ex ussr states were subject to a lot of state controlled migration to skew the native populations let alone that Russian was the state language.
As I say its a miasma with potentially huge ramifications for the shape of things to come.
If Putin gets his way then I guarantee he will seek to absorb more states

Millhouse

My problem is though... on Ukraine specifically, I fail to see why Europe should care. All our gas goes through Ukraine who regularly steal it and don't pay the bills leading to Russia cutting supply and gas shortages in the EU. If we let it get absorbed, then our gas future is arguably a little bit more secure. Russia already has a massive navel base there, so its not really 'expanding' more just maintaining its interest.

The US is paranoid on this one.

mikewot

Is this tummy button where the gas comes from?

Millhouse

only if it isn't cleaned properly.

shiva

When isn't the us paranoid though?

scrubbedexpat141

It seems like there are a lot of countries being divided by the people in them at the moment. Maybe we just let countries split, like Sudan, I mean that's surely been more successful (read: less of a massive **** up) than the mess that is Egypt et al?

Boomhauer

The US also doesn't want to be seen as limp, especially after Obama did nothing after his so called red line to Assad was crossed (assuming Assad's forces carried out the gas attack).

Irishbeekeeper

too late on that one mate