Monday, March 3, 2014

7th Period - 5 things you should know about the Crimea

Attached is a link to what one might want to know about the part of the Ukraine that is at the heart of the situation going on in the region. Go ahead and read the article and then write a short response to the current situation. Be sure your response references something from the article.

Assignment is due by 3:03 on Friday March 7th

Enjoy
Mr. Thompson

20 comments:

  1. Learning about the area of land, its a shame that there must be conflict. Recent news is also saying the recently removed Ukranian leader is the one asked for the unmarked (russian) military to start entering the nation.

    -Weylin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To clarify, the reason it is a shame that conflict must occur, is because Crimea is already mixed between the two countries (Ukraine and Russia), and on March 30th (Formally May 25th), seek even more autonomy through a referendum. Crimea itself has many possibilities for being its own nation, but chooses to remain a part of the Ukraine, while Putin would like it to be a part of Russia. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out, and how the vote will go.

      Delete
    2. .. The clarification post was made by Weylin as well, just to be clear...

      -Weylin

      Delete
  2. The people of Ukraine over threw/ forced the president out of office to make it more of a democracy. As a result Russia who doesn’t want them to become a democracy or become aligned with European Union has moved its troops into Ukraine. Russia is saying the troops are there to “protect their previous citizens” because their president was ousted and not trying to take over Ukraine, but I think this is a cover up and that their ultimate goal is to get Ukraine back under their control. Putin is essentially just doing this all so he can show that he has power and that he is not loosing Russians influence in the area. Putin is saying the ousted president of Ukraine is a legitimate leader and needs to be put back in office.
    Instead of taking military action the US is trying to get other countries around the world to join with them in imposing economic sanctions against Russia and that affecting Russia’s economic status would force Russia to re think its position on Ukraine and back out. I don’t think the US should take military action right away and that we should try all our non-confrontational diplomatic strategies before we send troops in and make this whole ordeal into a full on war.

    Jill Modjeski

    ReplyDelete
  3. Russia feels the need to take the soviegern terrority of Crimea away from its rightful "owners/protectors" (Ukraine). Because half of Crimea's population is of Russian decsent, Crimea holds Russia history; as well as a naval base on the southwest tip. If Russia can take regin over Crimea they would have complete control of the geopolictics within the region. If Putin decideds to invade and take over Crimea they would be posing great threat to the Budapest Memorandum. The Budapest Memorandum wassigned in 1994, which stated an agreement that Ukranie would give up its nuclear weapons; if only, Russia promised to respect Ukraine's territoral integrity. So far Russia has been successful without firing a shot, but more so by their use of propaganda.
    Grace Schroeder

    ReplyDelete
  4. Needless to say it does seem like Putin is indeed a "desperate man". When given an opportunity to improve public relations with the world during the 2014 Winter Olympics he did his best to play nice with the other nations, but once the spotlight was off Russia, his pride got the best of him, which resulted in the progression of...less than intelligent decisions such as trying to regain land, and (partially) violating the Budapest Memorandum. Due to the nature of Putin's actions the United States is trying to have sanctions imposed upon Russia, which would result in crippling of the Russian economy. However I do have two questions in mind. The first being: Why would Putin sabotage global relations when Russia obviously is still trying to recover from the social stigmas of the Cold War?
    The second of my questions is: Was it worth it Putin?
    Cy Below

    ReplyDelete
  5. In the recent actions of intimidatingly sending his military for exercises on the border of Ukraine and unjustifiably ordering the seize of Crimea, (which goes against his vow of the Budapest Memorandum) Vladimir Putin has violated the welfare of the Crimean Tatars, risked himself to "international condemnation", and has brought further mistrust to himself by the rest of the world; he is willing to give himself a bad name for the fleeting, advantageous gain of a naval base. They say he is repeating his actions from the follow up to the Russia-Georgia War. In my mind, that is like putting your hand in fire, getting burned, then putting your hand back in to see if it happens again...
    -Collin

    ReplyDelete
  6. This article has really opened up my eyes to what is going on in Ukraine and what Russia and Ukraine are really arguing about. I would have to agree with the article when it talks about how Putin is a deperate man because he is deciding to repeat the same action that he once did and it didn't work out the first time, so it's probably not going to work the second. I didn't realize how important Crimea was and how important the location it is to the people and more spicifically the Crimean Tatars. By Putin wanting Crimea he is invaiding the home of the Crimean Tatars and many people from Ukraine. I do not agree with what he is doing because he is only making the situation worse for his country. Russia is already an unstable economic country so why try and make it worse? Also I do not think that we should be sending US troops right away. I think we need to hold off for a bit and wait and see what happens because no guns have been fired or bombs dropped so we need to be patient. Putin's main goal is to have complete control and he could do so by having power over Crimea, but that would be breaking the agreement that he had with Ukraine, so is that a really good idea on his part?
    -Megan Busciglio

    ReplyDelete
  7. It seems to me that many Crimeans want to stay a part of Ukraine, and Ukraine wants Crimea to stay a part of it, especially the Crimean tartars who are fiercely anti-Russian, as the article states "The region chose to become part of Ukraine... In effect, Crimea is important to Ukraine in the same way that Florida or Texas are important to the United States". If Russia decided to take over Crimea there would be huge upsets and I have a hunch that there would major blood-shed in some way. Ukraine did agree to give up its nuclear weapons and Russia vowed to respect Ukraine's territory lines, but since Ukraine still obviously has a wide arrangement of nuclear weapons still, I can see where Russia feels no need to keep up their side of the 1994 Budpest Memorandum. Do I agree that Russia should take Crimea? No. The gain that he would get from taking Crimea is much less than what he would lose from taking it. It seems to me like he only wants it for geographic gain. He still has his lease agreement with Ukraine regarding their Naval base until 2047, so he still has his global military power position. Putin should feel for his country and the people of Russia and make peace with Crimea. President Obama has basically just warned Putin saying that "there will be costs" if he decides to take Crimea, but if Putin really wants to take Crimea the article says that there is little anyone (the US and NATO) can do about it, which is unfortunate. So, then it all comes down to Putin and if he will want to bring international condemnation upon Russia, and with its already weakened economy it would not help for Russia to be shunned by the rest of the world. Everyone already has their noses turned up against Putin, but it is up to him to risk crushing his own country's economy and "suppress yet another indigenous population".
    -Maggie Olstad

    ReplyDelete
  8. In this little article here all I see is a bunch of bullying going on, where Russia is the bully and "the" Ukraine is the victim. Most of the important parts of chrimea have pro-russian citizens, like the naval base, but that shouldn't mean that others should get no say. I think the referendum shouldn't even happen because even if pro-Ukraine wins they will lose because Putin is a dirty punk and he'll rig it like he rigs everything else. Lol yolo swag.
    -Emin Budimlic

    ReplyDelete
  9. After reading this article it can be seen that there is much conflict with the idea of Putin taking over the Crimea. However the Crimea itself has internal conflict with there being many pro-Russian's and very anti-Rusian Crimean Tartars. The main reason Russia wants the Crimea is to secure the access to their only warm water naval base located on the tip of the Crimea. With forces already in the Crimea Putin is a threat to not only citizens but also the rest of the world. Obama threatening Putin has stated that "there will be costs" if action against the Crimea is taken. These costs will weaken Russia's already poor economy.
    ~Aaron Zigan

    ReplyDelete
  10. This article has given me a lot of incite on what is really going on in Crimea. It is with no surprise that Putin wants to hold on to any sliver of power or influence that he might still have in Ukraine. Ukraine should take this invasion as a red flag for what is probably to come in the future. While it seems that Russia doesn't want to start anything major that could lead to war; they are definitely causing a stir in Ukraine. I think that Putin will go to any measure let Ukraine know that he is still in control and still has "some" influence. This does not make it easy for Crimea; who still have many Russian supporters residing there along with many of them who are extremely against Russia... making this also a very internal conflict for them. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Crimea, only time will tell.
    -Rikira Petersen(:

    ReplyDelete
  11. Crimea seems to be in a war between two countries. A beautiful place to visit has now become high with tension because Vladimir Putin wants the same land to maintain a naval base. Crimea has become a sovereign Ukrainian territory only to be bullied by Russia. Putin could work on some type of peaceful agreement so the best of both words are accomplished. In a perfect world that may work but Putin seems to want a victory rather than a compromise. Hopefully this upset will end peacefully.
    -Alex Steffl

    ReplyDelete
  12. If russia wanted to take over the crimea they could easily do it. As it said in the article; there's not much anyone could do about it. It does seem unlikey that they will becuase of the effect it will have on their economy. Many countries throughout the world will stop trading with them which will hurt their economy.
    -Jacob Holt

    ReplyDelete
  13. I do not understand how Russia could even take over Crimea because Crimea chose to be a part of the Ukraine. Their would also be many consequences if Putin and the Russian Army tried to take Crimea over. I know Russia wants and needs Crimea but if they try to take it over it would be devastating to their economy. I do not think Putin would want to destroy the Russians economy over Crimea. Also it would make Russia a hated nation across Europe. Like the article says, there will be such little gain compared to all the consequences and disasters. \

    - Kyle Gossman

    ReplyDelete
  14. This whole thing is going to blow up in Putin's face. He may annex Crimea, but the Russian economy is going to pay a terrible price for it.
    Kadi Sheriff

    ReplyDelete
  15. I can see a lot of stuff blowing up for Russia (figuratively and hopefully not literally) because of Putin's decision. I honestly think Putin is making a bad move for taking Crimea. With all these possible penalties against Russia I am surprised Putin is risking it, even with the lease not expiring for a long time. It's obvious that Putin does not care about the people of his country and Russia could possibly face economic repercussions because of Putin's greed. To lighten up the mood a little, I will leave this picture here: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QZ8F6ZDY-7M/Uxdpx1tRgOI/AAAAAAAASdo/bYlsTpOf-zs/s1600/putin+obama+crimea+river+funny.jpg
    Chris Vierkant

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Apparently blogspot doesn't auto-detect URLs, you will have to manually copy it and paste it into the address bar.

      Delete
  16. I agree that Vladimir Putin is doing his best to make things as difficult as possible for Ukraine’s new interim government. The fact that he sent off 150,000 troops to Ukraine's boarder and all to come off as intimidating was a very unnecessary and indeed provocative act. I understand why Crimea decided to join the country of Ukraine when it first gained it's Independence and i feel like it should remain joined and left to be in peace despite Russia wanting the region for their pride! Despite how many others and myself may feel about Crimea remaining a part of the Ukraine, it seems as like the article said,if Putin truly wants to take Crimea, there’s very little Ukraine, the US or NATO can really do about it. - Sara Lado Hour 4

    ReplyDelete
  17. This article helped me understand what is going on and what Russia and Ukraine are arguing about. I didn't realize how important the location is. If Putin gets Crimea he is invaiding the homeland of many people. I do not agree with the risky position he will be putting the country in. Im not sure if it is even possible for the US not to get involved. Putin's goal is to have control. This situation is very conffusing and for many that I have discussed it with it is very difficult to comprehend. My hope woul be for people not to get hurt and the future of countries including ours not to be affected in a negative way, I dont think that we will get that lucky.

    chance swanberg hour7

    ReplyDelete