Anyway, this all reminds me of the trials of Carter and Torrijos back in the 80s, and the cooling jungles of Panama.

Throughout almost the last 80 years of the previous century, we had a Panama Canal Zone (e.g., Panama [CZ]). It was a great place to live, all sunny and warm, with mild oceanside weather, much like Crimea. Of course the Pan Canal Co. workers didn’t want to leave! But it was also a military holding for the United States of America. On the downside, it split a sovereign nation, with a 10-mile strip of U.S. Trust Territory, almost right down the middle. To visit relative in the northern half of the country, families from the southern half would have to pass though a foreign nation, with foreign laws, with foreign regulations, foreign language… In my opinion, returning the canal to Panama was the height of U.S. nobility, an act which set the reigning General Omar Torrijos to near sainthood by his nation.

“You may rest assured that in our negotiations with the U.S. you will always find us standing on our feet or dead, but never on our knees. Never!” At a public rally.

I actually had the honor of shaking that man’s hand once. Unyielding, but a very likable fellow.

Today, I see no difference with Crimea. It has become a Russian military compound, largely peopled by Russians and their immediate descendants (first and second generation), most of whom actually miss the old USSR, for it was a steady paycheck. The USSR had been known to sacrifice its civilian populace for a strong military.

Population, according to Wiki:

The ethnic groups include Russians and Crimean Tatars.

The 2001 population was:

58.32% Russians
24.32% Ukrainians
12.10% Crimean Tatars

So-o-o … basically, the deck has been stacked in this “democratic” election. What are the odds that Russia will win a new annexation? The fight involved might be cheaper than tossing a new group of military unemployed to the streets of Russia.

Cheers, all.

I don’t know anything about this, really, but if it is an autonomous republic and 58% of the people are Russian, that would carry a lot of weight with me.

One thing I wouldn’t believe is US propaganda about their elections. The US doesn’t really give a rip about elected officials, and will sabotage an election if it perceives it to be in it’s best interest.

X Give the right to pro Kremlin politicians to make their mind for you

The Soviet way.

I don’t think Crimeans will be intimidated into voting for Russia. And if the election isn’t a shadow box, and Crimea rejoins Russia, the west should accept it and quit calling for sanctions.

…the Crimean War, which began in 1853 and involved three years of bloody fighting between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia. While Russia eventually lost the war and Crimea suffered significant damage, it remained part of Russia.

After the October Revolution ended the Russian Empire in 1917, Crimea briefly found itself a sovereign state. That didn’t last long, however: It was quickly dragged into the Russian civil war, where it became a stronghold for the White Army. Following a succession of governments in a few short years, Crimea eventually became the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921, part of the Soviet Union. It remained like this until 1945, when it became the Crimean Oblast, an administrative region of Russia.

Then, in 1954, something unusual happened: Russia gave it to Ukraine.

(A lot of Russians thought that Khrushchev was smoking crack)

When Ukraine held a referendum on independence in December 1991, 54 percent of Crimean voters favored independence from Russia. It was a majority, but the lowest one found in Ukrain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/27/to-understand-crimea-take-a-look-back-at-its-complicated-history/

By unanimously backing the referendum, the Crimean parliament signaled the intentions of regional leaders as well as Russia to restore the territory to Moscow’s control.
The autonomous region has a 60% ethnic Russian population

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/13/politics/crimea-referendum-explainer/

How many civil wars these days “haven’t” ended in a continuing clusterfuck. Look at Syria, three years and over 100,000 dead.
If civil war breaks out in Ukraine, who better to quash it than the Russians? The UN?

The Falklands are a small island group uninhabited when discovered by Europeans and variously had English, Spanish, and Germans. It has been populated by British citizens since the early 1800′s. There are no “native” Falkland Islanders. The Falklands probably were occupied illegally by the Brits, and legally probably belong to Argentina but the passage of time and occupation by Britain has given it credibility. There doesn’t seem to be any “statute of limitations” on those things, but if possession is 9 points of the law, the Brits now “own” them.

So, briefly, there is a national identity for the Ukraine and native Ukrainians. There has never been a national identity or natives of the Falklands.