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[Sheb]

Why? The USSR/Russia has been doing that for the last what? 70 years?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'll give you Putin being gone within ten years, but Russia has suffered way worse than that and survived throughout history. Putin's most absurd excesses would have been equivalent to a slightly rowdy party for the Tzars.

[alway]

Edit: I find it a tad strange that Western leaders/media aren't even responding to the claims that this is a peacekeeping mission. Like that doesn't even come up at all. Government representatives in Russia are all saying that they are there to stop Russian citizens from being harmed, but there's not so much as a "We don't buy your bullshit" in response, it's just "Stop invading/doing whatever you're doing."

Because at this point it's entirely obvious what they're doing. Anyone with even a quarter of a brain can see that peacekeeping doesn't require an armed invasion complete with battalions of soldiers, helicopters, armored vehicles, and artillery. Or legislature signing off on military force. Or legislature creating bills to simplify the annexation process. Not to mention the obviously planted Russian soldiers pretending to be armed militias who have already been taking over strategic positions. It's farcical to the point of not even requiring or deserving a response.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

USSR fell apart 11 years after their move in Afghanistan.
Russia is not USSR, it's weaker: Army, allies, internal stability, economy. Everything is inferior. 

Plus China. Modern China is modern country with ambitions to become the world leader

[Chaoswizkid]

Russia's condition for the last 70 years has been a string of people gathering all the power and wealth to themselves, something happening to them, there being a power vacuum and the next guy in power was the one that got control during the power vacuum. Putin is the most recent.
Russia will survive. "Federation" I'm not so sure, since I'm not aware if there are any places that particularly don't want to be a part of Russia at the moment (not saying there is or isn't, I'm just not educated on the subject), but Russia itself should be fine. I do wonder if, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and most of the most-connected men in Russia being older now, if after Putin the power vacuum trend will cease. I also wonder if with Putin being in the top 5 wealthiest people in the world and personally owning a considerable amount of Russian industry/resources/etc. if he's just planning on setting up an economic monarchy, so whoever he wants will inherit Russia when he's gone.

Anyone know if there's been a reaction in Siberia to the goings-on? I read that there was a huge amount of Ukrainians that went to settle there way back when.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Fresh Ukrainian joke:
If you want to live in France - you go to France.
If you want to live in Germany - you go to Germany.
If you want to live in Russia - Russia goes to you
If you don't want to live in Russia - Russia still goes to you

[XXSockXX]

Where did the EU go again? America wasn't even involved.

EU leaders have been on the phone with Putin practically constantly since the protests started. He just does not give a fuck. America has been less diplomatic, but that hasn't helped either.

The only reason Russian is the majority is because of resettlement and murder of those who refused to accept Russian as the new language and be happily under the Soviet Union. I find this all very amusing, how about you give up Karelia to Finland if you think people should have their rightful lands? Or is Russia the only one allowed such rights?

Ugh. You're kind of arguing besides the point. Yes, what Russia is doing right now is flat out wrong. But you can't really argue against facts that have been created after WW2, namely the resettlement. If you argue against that, why not argue for Germany to be restored in it's 1939 or better it's 1914 borders, why not argue for Poland to be moved back east?
The fact that there is a sizeable Russian minority in Crimea now has to be taken into account, which is why the whole situation is so complicated.

[Lagslayer]

It's complicated because Russia has nukes.

[Knit tie]

I'll give you Putin being gone within ten years, but Russia has suffered way worse than that and survived throughout history. Putin's most absurd excesses would have been equivalent to a slightly rowdy party for the Tzars.

Well, to be fair, the emperors we had after Ekatherine II were all very nice and modest people, if staunchly absolutist and incompetent due to their rigid traditionalism.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Spoiler: Sad but true (click to show/hide)

 

[Knit tie]

UR, I realise that you very much do not like Russia, but so far Putin hasn't really done any ethnic cleansing. I don't think that he'll start now.

[stabbymcstabstab]

as far as we know of,he does control some very remote places with minorities in them.

[Descan]

Not that I necessarily agree, but... Neither did Hitler? He hadn't done any ethnic cleansing when he went after the Sudetenland, and certainly not by the Anschluss of Austria. Lots of rhetoric about the Jews, but... There's been an awful lot of rhetoric about LGBT in Russia. >____>

[Aqizzar]

UR, I realise that you very much do not like Russia, but so far Putin hasn't really done any ethnic cleansing. I don't think that he'll start now.

It is important not to get ahead of ourselves, but Russia is basically on the verge of saying, "This land is as good as Russian so we're just going to run it now".  Which would be the second or third or fourth time for Putin-era Russia to have done so.  And some would argue that Putin-era Russia's treatment of Chechnya and Ossetia and Dagestan and so forth amounts to ethnic cleansing for want of death camps.

I'm not saying Russia is about to go Anschluss on Sevastopol, but I'll bet that's what everyone in NATO is basically expecting to happen.

[misko27]

Article on the Ukranian military. The abridged version is the Ukrainians won't be retaking Crimea wihout outside help any time soon, but have the resources (and partisans) to mount a credible defense elsewhere. More credible then Georgia at least.