[quote=jeff303][quote=CA renter]Right. Though it’s not politically correct to say this, I see no problem with what Russia did. The people voted. Done deal.[/quote]
They had the option to join Russia or become an independent state. They opted to join Russia in overwhelming numbers.
Here’s another good article, also from John Mauldin’s site (awesome contributors and articles there, whether or not one agrees with everything they say) about some of the history in the region and thoughts on why Russia is taking these actions:
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Reasoned paranoia
Put yourself in Russian shoes for a brief instant: over the past two centuries, Russia has had to fight back invasions from France (led by Napoleon in 1812), an alliance including France, England and Turkey (Crimean War in the 1850s), and Germany in both world wars. Why does this matter? Because when one looks at a map of the world today, there really is only one empire that continues to gobble up territory all along its borders, insists on a common set of values with little discussion (removal of death penalty, acceptance of alternative lifestyles and multi- culturalism…), centralizes economic and political decisions away from local populations, etc. And that empire may be based in Brussels, but it is fundamentally run by Germans and Frenchmen (Belgians have a hard enough time running their own country). More importantly, that empire is coming ever closer to Russia’s borders.
