As Expected, Russia Takes the Crimea;
Kerry Issues "Warning" or Something

I don't really want to rip on Kerry too much for this (and do not mistake my reluctance to criticize him on this for some kind of general approval of his horrible leadership), because the US isn't going to war for the Crimea, and it would be silly to even suggest that we would.

One of the most famous poems in the English language is about a futile and pointless military action in the Crimea ending in gloriously bloody disaster, after all.

No one would believe it, and this would become yet another of Obama's many red lines which must not be crossed which are nevertheless crossed.

But, as Allah says, the Administration is still warning Russia not to cross "the intervention line."

What does that mean? Does the line refer to Russia's intervention, or a line that would trigger our intervention?

Either way, that line has been crossed. With Armored Personnel Carriers.

brb, crossin' an intervention line

Russia has taken over a couple of airports, a sea port, and of course the major Crimean port of Svestapol. They're also blocking telephone hubs and canceling air travel. And they're issuing Russian passports to Russian-speaking Crimeans, something they did when they invaded Georgia, too. I guess the idea is that they make them officially Russian, as some part of their "We're just intervening to defend our native Russian comrades" justification.

In short, it looks like they're taking over Crimea, as expected. The only question now is whether they will be emboldened enough to move on the rest of the Ukraine, or perhaps just part of it (the Russian-speaking half to the east).

Here's another question: Will they formally annex Crimea? Or just make it an unofficial territory?

Here's why that's important: They can claim Crimea is still officially part of Ukraine, so that the Crimean Russian population can still vote in Ukraine's elections, despite being, essentially, now part of Mother Russia.

Think they wouldn't? They'd call it a "compromise" to leave Crimean nominally in the Ukraine, when in fact it would be another move to control Ukraine.

posted by Ace at 03:40 PM

| Access Comments