It would be really nice if the situation with Ukraine were better in a lot of areas. Reports are that the indigenous people of Crimea, the Tatars, are planning to boycott the referendum on Crimea's secession from Ukraine this Sunday. This is a mistake voting boycotts are almost always a bad idea take for instance the Sunni Iraqi boycotts of elections early in the current country of Iraq's early history these Sunnis interests ended up being hurt by Iraqi Shiites who got more political power because of the boycott. Tatar leaders should fully support and encourage their people to vote on the referendum but to vote against secession because each registered vote against secession is proof to the world that the Russian proxies in Crimea are doing the wrong thing with this referendum. Anti-secession Crimeans don't have to win this referendum vote by a long shot to win the world public opinion consensus; if there is a significant number of no votes coupled with the already established voting improprieties like widespread confiscation of Crimeans passports and identification cards along with persecution of Crimeans speaking against secession the referendum will be seen as illegitimate and it will further brand Russia as stealing the Crimea region. Tatar leaders should remember that many ethnic Russian Crimeans like many actual Russians hate Vladimir Putin they view him as anti-democratic and corrupt so many ethnic Russians Crimeans could vote no on secession this Sunday so their peoples effort in voting is not foolish. The U.S. government along with the European government should encourage Crimeans to vote in this Sunday's referendum but just vote no to secession! It was reported in the U.S. media today because of the incompetence of the prior Russian puppet president of Ukraine, Mr. Yanukovych, the country of Ukraine only has six-thousand combat ready troops to field against an invading Russian army, that is really really disillusioning. The United States government should stop with the petty help to the Ukranian people of a billion dollar loan guarantee and give them a foreign aid package of like six billion dollars all monies restricted to spending on Ukrainian military and security forces so that the Ukranian people can put in place a formidable deterrent to Russia against them invading the non-peninsula region of Ukraine. I know that a lot of Americans especially national politicians are going to hem and haw when they hear such a large figure but this types of dollar figure is needed to buy the number of tanks, artillery cannons and ammunition for these weapons and the like that this country needs if it is going to make a strong deterrent against a Putin invasion remember the country of Ukraine is a big country so a big defense apparatus will be needed to protect it. The American people need to remember this dollar amount is chicken feed to what it will cost America if Russia invades and takes over the non-peninsula portion of Ukraine. If such a development happens at minimum America is going to have to pull out all the stops to hurt Russia nonmilitarily because American and all European Union countries cannot let such a European sovereignty violation stand in this day and age. The only way to meaningfully hurt Russia nonmilitarily is to hurt Russia economically and the only way to do this is to significantly reduce their oil and natural gas sales and the only way for the U.S. to achieve this is to expedite the construction of Liquified Natural Gas export terminals in the United States and approve more licenses for new LNG export terminals in the U.S so U.S. natural gas can be delivered to markets in Europe and replace Russia produced natural gas sold there. This coupled with the fact that natural gas fields deplete relatively quickly means that the price of natural gas in the U.S. will speedily rise and approach world market prices relatively quickly hurting the expansion of manufacturing in the U.S. that has resulted and would have continued from cheap natural gas in the U.S. thus dramatically hurting tax receipts coming into the Federal treasury making six billion in foreign aid to Ukraine look like peanuts!
Granny says Putin put `em up to it... PRO-RUSSIAN FORCES STORM UKRAINIAN BASE IN CRIMEA Mar 22,`14 -- Ukraine's armed forces took what may prove to be one of their final stands Saturday in Crimea, as pro-Russian forces stormed and seized control of an air force base amid a barrage of gunfire and explosions. See also: RUSSIAN LAWMAKERS SEAL ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA Mar 20,`14 -- The Russian parliament's lower house has given its near-unanimous approval to the country's annexation of Crimea, ignoring threats from Western powers of more sanctions.
Ukrainian marines head back to Ukraine... BUSLOADS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS LEAVE CRIMEA Mar 25,`14 -- As former comrades saluted them from outside a base overrun by Russian forces, Ukrainian marines in Crimea piled into buses Tuesday to head back to the mainland. See also: OBAMA: NUCLEAR BLAST A BIGGER CONCERN THAN RUSSIA Mar 25,`14 -- President Barack Obama says he's more concerned about the prospect of a nuclear weapon exploding in New York City than Russia's recent actions and called President Vladimir Putin's country "a regional power."
Puttin' the skids on Putin... How the West Can Help Ukraine—and Stop Russia MAR 27 2014, A roadmap for responding to Moscow’s aggression See also: Germany: Putin says he's pulling some troops back from Ukrainian border March 31, 2014 -- U.S. State Department: Pullback "would be a welcome preliminary step" if accurate; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin talk by phone; Ukrainian officials say Russia is repositioning some troops massed on its border; Russian Prime Minister goes to Crimea in the highest-level visit since Moscow annexed region
In opposition of two international principles 1 principle of inviolability of borders 2 the right to self-determination more equitable second one begins to win,albeit slowly
Now the Russians wantin' $35.4B for Ukrainian gas bill... A LOOK AT UKRAINE'S FAST-GROWING RUSSIAN GAS BILL Apr 11,`14 ) -- The amount Russia says it is owed by Ukraine's cash-strapped government for natural gas has ballooned as if by magic - from $1.7 billion at the beginning of April to a staggering $35.4 billion, according to a letter sent by President Vladimir Putin this week to 18 European leaders. Here's a look at how Moscow got those figures, and what options Ukraine has. See also: Putin: Ukraine debt threatens Europe gas supplies April 10, 2014 — Vladimir Putin warned Europe on Thursday that it may face a shutdown of Russian natural gas supplies if it fails to help Ukraine settle its enormous Russian gas bill — a debt that far exceeds a bailout package offered by the International Monetary Fund.
