the sad truth as i find out is that most of us dont really understand the regional issues and the more i research it the more i find out how complicated the regional and political issues there are.
No argument yet.
the short answer is we want to be a free nation but we have learned to overgovern ourselves.
Crimea has a high percentage of ethnic Russians. It's the Russian MO. They carved off a couple of areas of Georgia that were mostly ethnic Russians. Ukraine may have averted this war if they had allowed the Donbas region, mostly ethnic Russian, to gain their independence. If Putin is successful in Ukraine it may be a matter of time before he invades northern Kazakhstan. Mostly ethnic Russian and their most productive farmland.
I've got a question Van.
And I'll reply with a question. Are the current political borders the same borders that have always been? For thousands of years? Take the Kurds. Largest ethnic group in the world without its own nation. Spread across in significant numbers 4 or 5 nations. They have revolted numerous times which have been put down by various governments. Take Armenia. Once much larger but land taken away by the Turks who tried to kill all of them at one point. In terms of years or decades things may seem set in stone but over time things are fluid and whether a nation remains the same depends on its ability to defend its borders.
I have no idea.
Your video illustrates that in areas where there's a Russian majority they are happy to be a part of Russia again. When I traveled through former Soviet republics I was speaking to local ethnic majorities. I never asked them how they felt about Russians, they just volunteered their hatred. When the Soviet Union was formed Russia moved their citizens in significant numbers to outlying republics. They ran everything and kept the best of everything for themselves. The Soviet Union may have pushed the image of a brotherhood, of comrades, but it was a Russian empire. And that has resulted in a backlash against Russians in the now independent republics. That's why those ethnic Russians in Crimea are happy to be back in the Russian fold again. And why any former Soviet republic that shares a border with Russia and with a significant Russian minority should be very concerned.
That's reasonable but when you're sitting right next to a country run by an ultra nationalist, and you have a significant minority that's the same ethnicity as that ultra nationalist, and he has a serious military at his disposal, things can get very interesting.
It can, and they have.
They have been two separate countries for more than 30 years.
The Ukrainian capital Kiev was the capital of the first Russian empire. Russians still feel a very strong affinity for the area. Most everyone in the country speaks Russian but Ukrainians are a separate ethnic group with their own language. Ukrainian is much more likely to be spoken as a first language in western Ukraine than in eastern where there are a lot more ethnic Russians. Khrushchev gave the Crimean Peninsula to the Ukraine Soviet republic. Not certain of the reasoning for that but I suspect it was a way to make up for Stalin starving millions of Ukrainians to death.
I understand that.
Just ask me a direct question and if I know the answer I will tell you. I've pretty much said all I know on the subject. It's impossible to frame what a country will look like in 30 years even if it looked like something the past 30. The U.S. is a perfect example. What we look like today bears no resemblance to what we looked like in 1776. The rest came through both purchase and conquest. The country of Panama used to belong to Colombia. Bolivia used to have access to the Pacific. Things change and it's usually due to war with belligerent neighbors. Look at Africa. Borders set by colonial powers that often resulted in conflict between ethnic groups. What is now Germany in Europe was once a conglomeration of many principalities. Western Ukraine was once controlled by the Polish Empire then the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. What was once India is now India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Things change and the only constant is our ability to defend the status quo.
Since I asked the question I researched a bit
If you're in an area dominated by ethnic Russians, are you if Ukrainian obligated to leave your home and move to an area that's majority Ukrainian? If you're an ethnic Russian but Ukrainian citizen at the declaration of independence are you required to move to Russia? If you gave it a chance but found over time that the majority Ukrainians are treating you badly because of your ethnicity are you obligated to either take it or leave your home and move away? Or can you revolt against the poor treatment and declare yourself independent? The ethnic Russians in Ukraine aren't totally innocent and neither are the Ukrainians. This isn't the kind of world where you just rent a Uhaul and move away to a job in greener pastures. Roots grow deep there. And moving away from an established home and livelihood may mean poverty elsewhere. There aren't easy choices and certainly not the kind of choices we take for granted as Americans.
Doubtful any of that is true.
I don't play those games, many Ukranians are fleeing as we speak.
