Obama: Ignoring Russian Aggression Would Have Global Consequences

[mutantsushi]

Perhaps this thread can be merged with "Ignoring Russian DIPLOMACY Will Have Global Consequences"?

You know, when before any events in Crimea they were making some very salient points about events in Ukraine, to be ignored by the NATO countries enjoying their moment of triumphalism in Kiev? Russia's stand seems to remain basically the same one, except that Crimea decided they didn't need to wait for fascist thugs to start "lustrating" their local officials and taking over their region (as they did in West and Central Ukraine with no consequences so far, despite serious violence), and moved for independence and accession to Russia. The EU and NATO countries established they didn't take such concerns seriously, so Crimea and Russia were left to act.

The EU still seems to not have given any explanation for why they cooperated with Svoboda party, which the EU Parliament previously issued an edict calling for no cooperation with that group, being a fascist extremist party (now in suits, in the revolutionary Kiev cabinet). That includes cooperation post-coup, as well as cooperation leading up to it, training it's activists in crowd control, PR, and sharp-shooting skills (mostly in Poland and the Baltic states), as well as obvious political cooperation given US Ambassador Nuland (previous aide to Cheney/appointed ambassador by Bush Jr: love that change!) was considering Svoboda in government even before the coup.

One of the consequences will certainly be that EU diplomacy basically has no credibility, given they dropped support for the power-sharing agreement they helped negotiate as soon as it was convenient to do so (when the violent Right Sector/Svodoba/Maidan Self Defence decided to cut a secret unauthorized deal with the police behind the government's back, allowing them to march on parliament unopposed, where they 'oversaw' parliament votes after scaring half the deputies away and/or beating anybody who disagrees - as reflected in the Ashton/Paet leak, and that ~1/3 of the parliament no longer feels safe enough to show up). Who would ever trust them to stand by a negotiated agreement like that again? (this on top of their violations of promises to Russia to not expand NATO, of course) They still seem to not have acknowledged that issue, or have given any explanation as to why the agreement still shouldn't be followed thru with (which was Russia's diplomatic position, again, ignored by EU/NATO), you know, other than "they won, so don't need to follow the agreement anymore". That honesty has sad implications for the future ability of diplomacy and negotiations to resolve violent conflicts world-wide.

They also seem to have a hard time dealing with the actual legal legitimacy of the new government, with the militia "protected" rump parliament not following proper procedure to remove the President (not fulfilling the super-majority required, not consulting with Constitutional Court first, etc) and replacement of most of Constitutional Court judges, which taints all their subsequent actions (including the formation of the Fatherland+Svoboda government, parties which don't come close to forming a majority, that's how much legitimacy they have)

That legitimacy problem leaves the door open to regions like Crimea to go their own way, because HEY there is now no legitimate central government or central judiciary able to rule against their actions. Sometimes revolutions need to happen, sure, but once there is a revolutionary situation with the old constitutional order over-turned, then there's nothing to stop anybody from trying to take the revolution in the direction THEY want to. Well, other than sheer force, which the Kiev coup government is using to prevent people in SE Ukraine from organizing referendums on things like autonomy/federalism... never mind that these people's actions don't seem all that different than what the Maidan people did to seize power, in fact alot less violent. Only NATO-approved people can seize power, y'know...

All the NATO media propaganda is silly though, just because it's so impotent, it's not achieving anything tangible, it's just ranting meant to demonize Russia as the next big enemy to rally against. Incoherent fantasies about Russia next invading the Baltic states, etc. I'm sorry, if Russia would do that it would only be because NATO was a sham all along, which is their problem they should deal with, independently of events in Ukraine. None of the NATO ranting is useful for actually helping anybody in Ukraine (other than perhaps some nationalist politicians), none of it helps further a stable long-term solution for Ukraine... But as long as Russia is demonized (including for such things as not subsidizing Ukraine's accession to EU and NATO), what's the problem, right? It's not like 'caring humanitarian interventionist" NATO seems to care much about Libya, Somalia, Iraq, after suberting their sovereignty. Those countries barely even appear in NATO media news anymore... Because NATO CARES.

BTW: Anybody notice how Russia is essentially conflated with the USSR, e.g. the USSR's expulsions of Tatars carry over to Russia even though Stalin was Georgian? Yet strangely enough, NATO and it's groupies seem to insist that every detail of the USSR's beaurocratic accidents are carried over, e.g. Crimean annexation to Ukraine, annexation of Novo Rossiya (now SE Ukraine) governate to Kiev governate, etc? So apparently the USSR wasn't so bad after all, if we believe NATO.

EDIT: Funnily, the Crimean Tatars have now affirmed they are seeking 'autonomy', de facto acknowledging the new Russian sovereignty. Unmentioned by NATO media is that in Ukraine such a move would be treated as illegal and be grounds for arrest of everybody involved (as the coup regime is doing in SE Ukraine, arresting activists calling for such things). Meanwhile, the Crimean Tatars' latest move is entirely in line with Russia's announced plans for the region, and mirrors how ethnic minorities with geographic concentrations exist in the rest of Russia. Tatarstan is a leading ethnic republic of Russia, with economic and living standards amonst the highest of all Russia, with major industry like aviation, etc. (those Tatars are in fact consulting/mediating with the Crimean Tatars as Crimea joins Russia)