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| Everyone knows you take Australia Putin |
To start off on the honest foot (the right one) I must lead by saying that I am nowhere near a political analyst and I have very little knowledge of politics. I am, however, an amateur historian (I majored in it for my B.A. so at least I have that shred of legitimacy). I wrote my senior thesis on the topic of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union and how it could have succeeded. In my research for my topic, I had to focus on an extensive look at geopolitical and cultural factors that enabled Hitler's meteoric rise to absolute control over Germany, and how he was able to then extend that control country by country to almost the entirety of Europe. When the news broke about Russian troops occupying the Crimea, my mind immediately went to Hitler's occupation of Austria in March of 1938 which he termed the "Anschluss". Ignoring the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1918) which separated the two countries and had a clear provision that they never again be unified, Hitler cited the culture of the German people as his excuse for the "reunification".
The Crimea was actually part of Russia (relatively) recently. Although the Soviets held power in both Russia and the Ukraine, they were separate states after World War II. In 1954 the Crimea was transferred from the Russian Soviet state to the Ukraine Soviet State. When the Soviet Union was disbanded in December of 1991, Ukraine received its independence from Russia in a treaty known as the Belavezha Accords. Within a month the "newly formed" Russian government was declaring the 1954 transfer of Crimea as unconstitutional. Fancy that.
History repeats itself:
'"In people's hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia," Putin said, describing the takeover as"democratic" and "legal" and necessary to prevent encroachment against Russia.' (From USA Today).
I love the language he used. Referring to a military occupation of a territory occupied by another country as "legal" really put the icing on the cake here. Everything Hitler did in Germany was "legal" too. So two authoritarian governments 70 years apart did a similar thing, what's the big deal? It wasn't too big of a deal when Hitler did it in 1938, either. Putin was smart about it, and didn't order a general mobilization as Hitler did. He probably isn't gearing up for World War III. With the say weapons have changed he can't. But, like in 1938, the global police force that today is the U.N. powerless to stop him. After having sanctions imposed on Russia by America, Russia's deputy prime minister posted this on twitter: "I think some prankster prepared the draft of this Act of the US President." That is scary.
The Malaysian Airlines mystery is a terrible thing. The fact that 239 people may have died is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to their families. It must be terrible for them not knowing what happened. It seems to me, though, that the huge blow-up of network coverage seems a little too timely. It seems the focus might be being put there in order for us to overlook what is happening in the Crimea, and most importantly for the American people, how powerless and mocked our president is by members of the Russian government. Is this a political red herring? We may never know what happened to Flight 370. I will certainly wish the best and pray for the loved ones who lost fathers, mothers, and children on that flight. It seems to me, though, that Americans need to focus on some pretty important world happenings, though, such as this headline from the Guardian:
"Ukraine PM warns of war as Russian military seizes control in Crimea"
We should probably be sensationalizing the fact that war looms in Asia instead of people's deaths.
~Worley
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