It's the same shtick that happened in Egypt. There is always one group that is willing to make a deal with the opposition. It happens in every revolution. When one side is backed by the Russians and given free reign essentially, this is what happens.
Prior to this, the opposition was looking strong. If you want status quo and you are losing, introduce some violence into the equation and everything falls apart.
Revolutions do not occur over 2 weeks, they take years. What we are seeing is the unfortunate progression. Who will "win" is still very much unknown, but it will cost more blood.
Edit:
Also, the article says
Quote:
|
The Globe and Mail saw least a dozen men wearing fatigues – supported by an armoured personnel carrier – standing under a Russian flag at a checkpoint erected roughly halfway along the 80-kilometre road from Sevastopol to Simferopol,
|
A dozen men makes a section. We're a far ways off from having a company of armed Russians in Crimea, so I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here as well.
One other thing I want to ask: is there a way to "tell" who is Ukrainian and who si Russian? When the USSR broke up, many of the independent states banished Russians who had moved or been moved to the area who did not assimilate to their particular culture.
This is easy to see in Central Asia in places like Kazakhstan Tajikistan Uzbekistan etc. The native people of these countries are certainly Central Asian, and you can see it in their faces.
I work with a Russian who was born in Kazakhstan. Stalin forced his grandfather to move from Moscow to Kazakhstan to build the railroad. When the USSR split up, they told all the native Russians to learn Kazak and assimilate, or get out. He left for Canada.
With the Ukraine, this situation is likely much more difficult as they can not really force Russians not to live there. I am assuming I could not tell the difference between a Ukrainian and a Russian as a westerner.
I'm not advocating kicking Russians out of Ukraine, but I think the central asian states are likely more stable having reduced the Russian population within their borders. If there are no Russian citizens in the country, it makes it much more difficult for Putin or others influence the country.