Quote Originally Posted by ghettopalmetto View Post
Well, here's what the ignorant North American media isn't telling anyone:

Russia's alleged motivations for moving into eastern Ukraine and into Crimea are "to protect the Russians" who live there. Well, where does that end?

Latvia--former Soviet Socialist Republic--has a significant proportion of Russians [[about 27%), with Russians constituting a majority in Riga. Do we just let Russia re-take Latvia to protect the ethnic Russians there?

And hell, while they're at it, why not re-take Lithuania too, since Lithuania is the only obstruction between "mainland" Russia and Kaliningrad Oblast? How many sovereign nations do we let Russia invade before we stop saying, "It's not our problem?"

Ukraine--and the other nations of Central Europe--lived under Russian "protection" for centuries. Such a situation is the *last* thing those people want, especially as Gistok noted, the EU member states of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have grown wealthier in the past decade. This current line of rationalization is nearly identical to that used after World War II--and it didn't turn out too well for the Central Europeans.

In my perception, since this part of the world isn't on the "official" American Tourist Loop of Dublin-London-Paris-Amsterdam-Rome, this is a mysterious region where we don't have a lot of people who understand the history and culture. Regardless of the outcome, I don't think it infeasible that the western portion of Ukraine [[much of which was historically part of Poland), separates and seeks to join the EU.

"The Ukrainians are our neighbors. They are fighting for the same things we did back in 1989 - for a country that is more democratic, less corrupt and is European."

-Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish Foreign Minister

George Will has written about this and drawn the similarities between Putin's actions and rationale and Hitler's actions and rationale of the late 1930s.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...d74_story.html