Stopping the Russian Empire

I continue to ponder the deeper meaning of the situation involving Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia. A recent article in the newspaper THE INDEPENDENT written by journalist Askold Krushelnycky further made me ponder the situation.

I am now convinced that the world is concerned that Vladimir Putin and his right hand man Dimitry Medvedev are intent on flexing their muscles and making a push to establish a Russian Empire. Let's face it, Russia does have natural resources and it does have some military power, so what's to stop it from expanding its reach at a time when global powers are otherwise pre-occupied with the threat of a stagnating global economy?

Mr. Krushelnycky in his article notes that Russia may now have its sights fixated on the Ukraine. The following is an excerpt from the article:

The Crimean peninsula is the only part of Ukraine where ethnic Russians are in a majority. Many of them are deeply resentful about being part of Ukraine and openly call for annexation by Russia. Moscow has fostered pro-annexation groups for years.

Vasyl Ovcharuk, a Ukrainian-Crimean political activist, said: "Moscow has laid the foundations for the occupation of Crimea with years of careful propaganda. It's like Hitler's excuse of helping the ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland as justification for the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938. I have no doubt that, now that the Georgian conflict is over, Russia aims to take over Crimea.The level of hatred against anything Ukrainian here is astonishing. Many people have been attacked in the street for merely speaking Ukrainian. You can talk French, German, or Chinese here without problems but if you speak Ukrainian, people often come up and start insulting you."

For centuries, Crimea was the homeland of a Muslim people, the Crimean Tatars, until it was taken by Catherine the Great in the late 18th century. While in Britain the 1854 Crimean War is known because of the charge of the Light Brigade into "the Valley of Death", the port of Sevastopol today brims with proud emotion as the place which Russian forces, heroically but unsuccessfully, defended against the Anglo-French attackers, as well as the site of one of the bloodiest battles, also unsuccessful, against Hitler's armies.

In the Soviet era, Crimea grew as a naval base. And the peninsula, with its mountains, sweeping bays, beaches and Mediterranean climate also became a place of retirement for senior apparatchiks.

Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, the holiday business has revived strongly with a boom in hotels, restaurants, and other leisure-based industries. Much of the business is owned by Russian investors and provides another, purely commercial, motive for "annexation" disguised in passionate nationalist rhetoric.

The presence of the Russian fleet reinforces the local feeling that Crimea is part of Russia. Thousands of Russian sailors and soldiers are used to strolling around the city, and Russian flags flutter above the neo-classical government and naval buildings. The Russian port facilities have been leased by the Russians until 2017, and Ukraine has threatened not to renew the lease. Kiev has already infuriated the Kremlin with new restrictions on Russian vessels entering or exiting Sevastopol which were introduced after the Georgian invasion. Moscow has made it clear it is determined to stay.

Add to all this the notion that the Ukraine also has a vibrant agricultural sector along with a robust mining sector and Russian annexation starts to make logical sense. A quick Google search notes that fully 2/3 of Ukraine's land base is agricultural. Another Google search tells me that the Ukraine is the world's second largest producer of manganese (a key ingredient for the global steel industry), the fifth largest producer of coal and by 2012 will be a significant producer of uranium.

So, were recent events between Georgia and South Ossetia an anomaly? I say not. I say there was careful orchestration on the part of other global powers to stir up trouble with South Ossetia. What better way to keep Russia's empire building plans on edge than to stir up trouble in its backyard? Keep your eye on the area bordering Russia, for I say there is plenty more to come. America and Europe are not going to sit idly by as Putin and Medvedev try to build an empire. I continue to ponder the deeper meaning of the situation involving Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia. A recent article in the newspaper THE INDEPENDENT written by journalist Askold Krushelnycky further made me ponder the situation.

I am now convinced that the world is concerned that Vladimir Putin and his right hand man Dimitry Medvedev are intent on flexing their muscles and making a push to establish a Russian Empire. Let's face it, Russia does have natural resources and it does have some military power, so what's to stop it from expanding its reach at a time when global powers are otherwise pre-occupied with the threat of a stagnating global economy?

Mr. Krushelnycky in his article notes that Russia may now have its sights fixated on the Ukraine. The following is an excerpt from the article:

The Crimean peninsula is the only part of Ukraine where ethnic Russians are in a majority. Many of them are deeply resentful about being part of Ukraine and openly call for annexation by Russia. Moscow has fostered pro-annexation groups for years.

Vasyl Ovcharuk, a Ukrainian-Crimean political activist, said: "Moscow has laid the foundations for the occupation of Crimea with years of careful propaganda. It's like Hitler's excuse of helping the ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland as justification for the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938. I have no doubt that, now that the Georgian conflict is over, Russia aims to take over Crimea.The level of hatred against anything Ukrainian here is astonishing. Many people have been attacked in the street for merely speaking Ukrainian. You can talk French, German, or Chinese here without problems but if you speak Ukrainian, people often come up and start insulting you."

For centuries, Crimea was the homeland of a Muslim people, the Crimean Tatars, until it was taken by Catherine the Great in the late 18th century. While in Britain the 1854 Crimean War is known because of the charge of the Light Brigade into "the Valley of Death", the port of Sevastopol today brims with proud emotion as the place which Russian forces, heroically but unsuccessfully, defended against the Anglo-French attackers, as well as the site of one of the bloodiest battles, also unsuccessful, against Hitler's armies.

In the Soviet era, Crimea grew as a naval base. And the peninsula, with its mountains, sweeping bays, beaches and Mediterranean climate also became a place of retirement for senior apparatchiks.

Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, the holiday business has revived strongly with a boom in hotels, restaurants, and other leisure-based industries. Much of the business is owned by Russian investors and provides another, purely commercial, motive for "annexation" disguised in passionate nationalist rhetoric.

The presence of the Russian fleet reinforces the local feeling that Crimea is part of Russia. Thousands of Russian sailors and soldiers are used to strolling around the city, and Russian flags flutter above the neo-classical government and naval buildings. The Russian port facilities have been leased by the Russians until 2017, and Ukraine has threatened not to renew the lease. Kiev has already infuriated the Kremlin with new restrictions on Russian vessels entering or exiting Sevastopol which were introduced after the Georgian invasion. Moscow has made it clear it is determined to stay.

Add to all this the notion that the Ukraine also has a vibrant agricultural sector along with a robust mining sector and Russian annexation starts to make logical sense. A quick Google search notes that fully 2/3 of Ukraine's land base is agricultural. Another Google search tells me that the Ukraine is the world's second largest producer of manganese (a key ingredient for the global steel industry), the fifth largest producer of coal and by 2012 will be a significant producer of uranium.

So, were recent events between Georgia and South Ossetia an anomaly? I say not. I say there was careful orchestration on the part of other global powers to stir up trouble with South Ossetia. What better way to keep Russia's empire building plans on edge than to stir up trouble in its backyard? Keep your eye on the area bordering Russia, for I say there is plenty more to come. America and Europe are not going to sit idly by as Putin and Medvedev try to build an empire.