Crimea

[Alpha]

What is your opinion (if you so choose to exercise it) on the current events in the Ukraine/Russia/Crimea? Is Putin right to "invade" the Ukraine for reasons of de-escalating regional tensions, border security and protecting ethnic Russians? Or he is an opportunist---I've even read letters to the editor comparing his actions to Adolf Hitler's prior to WWII in "invading" the Sudetenland and other non-German regions of Europeans which were majority-occupied by ethnic/linguistic Germans. An aggressive despot keen to inflate Russia's international status and re-affirm Russia as a "superpower"? Or something else? How do you interpret what's going down? Is my précis out of whack?

Given most of you are Americans, what should the USA do to intervene, if anything? Is the USA even relevant to this at all? (If not, why do I keep seeing articles about what Obama thinks about it?) How many more questions can I pose? Is this too many?

Go!

EDIT: Dammit I can't edit the title but now I wish I'd called this thread "Crimea River".

[Clint]

Russia's occupation of Crimea is illegal. No country has the right to occupy land from another country, and claim it as their own. That may be how the world used to operate, however, times have changed. I feel that many world leaders learned from the mistakes made by Germany during WWII, and Austria-Hungary during WWI, and there are pacts and treaties in place to prevent countries from doing such things. Russia is breaking those pacts, and threatening the entire establishment of Europe. It's eerily reminiscent to the World Wars, and I fear if Russia is allowed to continue, that it will spark another conflict.

No nation should threaten its neighbors by amassing troops along the border. Russia is stirring instability in the Ukraine, essentially collapsing the entire nation from within. That's not right. That's tyrannical. That's like political terrorism. Putin stated that all of this is about "bringing glory back to the motherland," which is understandable. Any good leader would want to better his or her country, however, what he's doing will only temporarily benefit Russia. With all the international codes that have been violated already, and the threat of all-out war on the horizon, Putin is going to destroy Russia, just as Hitler, and his conquest to bring glory to Germany, destroyed Germany.

I understand exactly what Putin is doing, and I feel that it would be a very good idea to allow Russia to take the reigns as a superpower, however, he's instigating war, rather than focusing on creating domestic jobs, and strengthening international relations. I don't think he's past the point of no return just yet. He hasn't done anything that's particular unforgivable, aside form a bit of bullying, however, I don't see him being the kind of person who would be willing to back off and cooperate. I feel he has his own agenda, and he will stick to it, no matter what.

[Alpha]

So, Christ, should the USA do anything? Or should an actual international body take some kind of counter militaristic action?

If Putin is left to it, will he keep trying to unite the (ethnic) Russians?

If some kind of physical response from beyond the Ukraine is mounted, will that only cause more destabilisation?

[Clint]

I know the US sent troops near Russia. I'm not sure if they've sent any to Ukraine or not. I think they should, but violent action against Russia at this point would only have negative consequences. Anything that anybody does while dealing with Russia at the moment needs to do so cautiously and nonthreatening.

I think troops should be set up in order to try to prevent Russian aggression. In this scenario, Russia is less likely to become violent, because if they do, combatant troops would be right next door, ready to fight. In either case, whether Russia deals a physical assault, or if another foreign military force deals a physical assault, it would lead to all-out war.

Russia has deliberately broken the law, but even so, war should be prevented at all costs, even if that means allowing Russia to get away with it, as long as they back off and stop invading their neighboring countries.