Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko, could not have put it more starkly. Condemning Russia’s decision to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia’s two separatist regions, Yushchenko warned yesterday: “Any nation could be next.”
In fact, Yushchenko was articulating what is now a commonplace in diplomatic circles: that having successfully “done” Georgia, the Kremlin might now turn its attention to Ukraine – and in particular its Russian-speaking region of Crimea.
France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said the same thing. “It is very dangerous … there are other objectives that one can suppose are objectives for Russia, in particular the Crimea, Ukraine and Moldova,” Kouchner said.
(Article continues below)
In reality, the similarities between Ukraine and Georgia, and the Crimea and South Ossetia, are largely superficial. Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula, has a strong ethnic Russian majority. It became part of Ukraine during Soviet times, when it was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954.
Unlike South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which launched separatist wars in the 1990s, Crimea has been a successful part of the Ukrainian state. “It is very pro-Russian, especially in Sevastopol. But it doesn’t see itself as being against Ukraine,” Igor Shevliakov, from the International Centre for Policy Studies in Kiev, said.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:30 am
What a hypocrite! It is more likely that any of those neocon-controlled countries will attack Russia or Russian citizens or perpetrate a falso flag attack. The fact that Georgia started the conflict by committing a genocide is being ignored by Viktor Yushchenko.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:01 am
hmm,..any one wanna take a 20$ gamble its poland..
August 28th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I hope that all the Russian speaking people in the area break away and form an alliance with Russia. I also hope that China signs an agreement of mutual military alliance to keep this monster called the US Government in check.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:33 am
What? Is Yushchenko still a little bitter because they poisoned him a little? What is really the Russians that did it?
August 28th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Yushenko must be forgot that Litle more than 300 years ago
Ukraine joined Russia to avoid to be swallowed by Polaks,
so, there is no such state as Ukraine and never was.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
NEXT?? What are we talking NEXT about? It is ALL countries NOW.
Don’t believe it? Do you see what they’re doing?
Do you know who “THEY” is?
You will.
http://www.illuminatimatrix.wordpress.com
Dare you to find out.
.
.
.
.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
We (the US idiots) did it first to Kosovo.