This article appeared in "Reuters"
Putin recently signed a treaty that officially annexed Crimea into the Russian Federation. Well the "official" nature of it fluctuates depending on who you ask. Kiev isn't so ready to let it go.
I don't mean to turn this particular point of analysis into a cliche, but this move smacks of early WWII Hitler and post-WWII Stalin. In 1938, before Hitler invaded the Czechoslovakia in its entirety, the Fuhrer only annexed the native German speaking perimeter of the country, the Sudetenland. Using the people's desire for autonomy as his justification, Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland to Germany and that the territory be immediately occupied by German troops. The swift occupation of the territory prevented the Czechoslovakian troops from being able to adjust to the new German positions, and the rest of Czechoslovakia was invaded in March, 1939.
So far, Putin has done an excellent job of mimicking this strategy. Crimea has a majority of ethnic Russians, and Putin has used this fact to justify referendum that annexed Crimea into Russia. Crimea is frothing over with Russian soldiers, soldiers actively running drills and visibly exercising Russian military might. Putin claims that he has no desire in pursing the remainder of Ukraine, but Hitler made similar statements when he pursued the Sudetenland.
As far as my comparison to Stalin, anyone familiar with the creation of the Iron Curtain and the occupations thereof should see similarities.
The issue of sovereignty has come up, and in different circumstances would be a fairly legitimate concern. The context of this issue, however, seems much more complicated than an issue of regional autonomy.
Comments are appreciated.
So, it begins. Putin is taking over, and there is nothing we can do to stop him. my question about all of this is: What does Putin want? What is he willing to do to get what he wants?
ReplyDeleteWith Hitler, even those who were involved with him didn't know where he was willing to stop. Are we going to be seeing a Hitler like regime again?
Well correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the people of Crimea actually want to be part of Russia yes? So let them leave. However, if Putin does continue on a conquest to take over surrounding countries, I do believe that military action is required. Not necessarily by us, but but the surrounding European countries, let them finally stand up to their Russian neighbor.
ReplyDeleteUkrainians and Russians are nearly ethnically identical. "Ukraine" in some old Slavic language actually means "Homeland". Which, by the way, is why some people in English have a habit of saying "the Ukraine" instead of just "Ukraine". The first ever empire of the Rus actually was seated in the Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteThus, if both Crimea and Russia want to be confounded, let them be so. Penalizing a country by what the country can potentially do after doing something not-at-all-egregious leads to a near-completely relative norm from which one can judge countries actions. Thus, almost any act by any country could be considered diabolical from one perspective or another.
I don't think that Putin will go nearly as far as Hitler did, even thought the initial moves may be the same. I don't think Russia has the power to gain more and more countries because other, stronger world powers will stop them.
ReplyDelete