Reading the history of Russia and Ukraine which is quite interesting and sadly not without battles and wars. Though, I do not feel Russia has a right to get involved in Ukraine Putin is a bully no doubt . I also do not think America should get involved unless the EU get together and ask us for help. If Ukraine is asking Europe and US for help then the dynamics change. There is history of wars in this area like the Crimean war. Russia has their strong seaport in Ukraine. America has no reason to be involved in this situation. We are not the worlds police and often look more like the Worlds Bullies. Information why Russia sold Alaska was over the Crimean War: Russia. was in a difficult financial position and feared losing Russian America without compensation in some future conflict, especially to the British, whom they had fought in the Crimean War (1853–1856). While Alaska attracted little interest at the time, the population of nearby British Columbia started to increase rapidly a few years after hostilities ended, with a large gold rush there prompting the creation of a British crown colony on the mainland in addition to the already-extant one on Vancouver Island, where the French and British fleets had retreated to after the Battle of Petropavlovsk in the Russian Far East. The Russians decided that in any future war with Britain, their hard-to-defend region might become a prime target, and would be easily captured. Therefore the Russian Emperor Alexander II decided to sell the territory. Perhaps in hopes of starting a bidding war, both the British and the Americans were approached. However, the British expressed little interest in buying Alaska. The Russians in 1859 offered to sell the territory to the United States, hoping that its presence in the region would offset the plans of Russia’s greatest regional rival, Great Britain. However, no deal was brokered due to the American Civil War.[1][2] Additionally, the Russian Crown sought to repay money to its landowners after its emancipation reform of 1861 and borrowed 15 million pounds sterling from Rothschilds at 5% annually.[3] When the time came to repay the loan, the Russian Government was short on funds. The Emperors brother, Grand Prince Konstantin Nikolaevich offered to sell something useless. Russia continued to see an opportunity to weaken British power by causing British Columbia, including the Royal Navy base at Esquimalt, to be surrounded or annexed by American territory.[4] Following the Union victory in the Civil War, the Tsar instructed the Russian minister to the United States, Eduard de Stoeckl, to re-enter into negotiations with William Seward in the beginning of March 1867. The negotiations concluded after an all-night session with the signing of the treaty at 4 a.m. on March 30, 1867,[5] with the purchase price set at $7.2 million, or about 2 cents per acre ($4.74/km2).[6] American public opinion was not universally positive; to some the purchase was known as Sewards Folly. Nonetheless, most editors argued that the U.S. would probably derive great economic benefits from the purchase; friendship of Russia was important; and it would facilitate the acquisition of British Columbia.[7] Forty-five percent of newspapers endorsing the purchase cited the increased potential for annexing British Columbia in their support.[4] Historian Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer summarized the minority opinion of some American newspaper editors who opposed the purchase:[8]
Posted on: Sat, 01 Mar 2014 15:45:02 +0000
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