Apparently giddy over the Russian victories at the Winter Olympic games and consequently swelled with nationalistic pride Russian Premier Vladimir Putin has sought to reclaim a territory of the former Soviet Union and by all perspectives has succeeded. After the overwhelming vote by the people of Crimea the other day to be annexed to mother Russia it would seem he was justified. Fearing an unfair election of show in which its likely the citizens of Crimea were strong armed into the almost landslide vote through the obvious intimidation of invasion, both President Obama and the United Nations issued statements that neither the United Nations nor the United States would officially recognize the vote or Crimea as a Russian state. Still officially recognized as a part of the Ukraine, Crimea hangs in the balance. It would seem more likely though that it may have been a genuine landslide vote since the majority of Crimean citizens speak Russian and being so close to the border have family and roots in Russia itself. There are many hardliners still remaining in Russia and some of the former Soviet states who yearn for the old days of the Soviet Socialist Republics military might and tentative economic stability. Vladimir Putin among them he has set in motion an international situation that will not recede across Russias borders. What facilitated this more than anything was the Russian governments stab at democracy. They are desperately clinging to the flimsy taters of a reasonable facsimile of democratic government there, but in this hard global economy their patience with democracy is waning as only a select few, (cronies of Putin and other important political figures) have become wealthy while the majority of Russian citizens live in poverty. Putin is obviously taken opportunistic measures to ensure solidarity among his countrymen towards hardline support. His predecessor Boris Yeltsin all agreed was ineffectual and needed to step down. Even before Yeltsin named Putin has his successor the international intelligence community had been watching Putins political rise through the Kremlin and had pegged him as a hardliner. They predicted trouble if he were to ever attain this level of political power and lo and behold, it has reared its ugly head. Both President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have been ineffectual in deterring this mans resolve in this matter. Although the United Nations and the United States have promised economic sanctions, political pundits argue it will do little to affect the Russian economy. So we have come full circle to a cold war Mexican standoff that hasnt been seen since the days of the Nixon administration. Will Putin stop here? What are his not so distant future plans? More importantly, where is Dennis Rodman when we really need him?
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 15:36:06 +0000
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