Why Putin Took Crimea....The Gambler in the Kremlin
(www.foreignaffairs.com)
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Some of this gentleman's theories I agree with. It may have been opportunistic to seize Crimea by way of referendum and stationing of troops. I don't think Russia can afford to loose Sevastopol as the home of it's Black Sea fleet.
There is also a historical component. Crimea has been ruled by the Russians for centuries and fought a good number of wars for it. Following World War II, it was part of the Russian Federation until 1954 when Nikita Khrushchev transferred control to the Ukrainian SSR.
After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Crimea became an autonomous republic in Ukraine.
Two additional notes: 1. It was controlled by the Kievan Rus for about 100 years. Rus is from where Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians draw their ancestry. 2. The Kazarians were also in Crimea around 500+ AD, and they had to go!
"Russia can be either an empire or a democracy, but it cannot be both. . . . Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire."
Zbigniew Brzezinski
I'd be willing to bet good precious metals that President Putin is well aware of this quote.
...delightfully expressed observation.....