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[GrizzlyAdamz]

I blame political science.

[Knit tie]

I blame political science.

For propaganda?

[XXSockXX]

Simply put people love good old black/white, good/evil, friend/enemy categories. It requires little thinking and feels very comfortable.
Of course it is a very poor way to view the world, because the world is not like that, but much more complicated and multi-faceted.
But it works very well, politicians use it all the time too.

[mainiac]

It's honestly very sad, you know? Wonderfully educated, good-natured, kind people calling each other scum just because some hate NATO more than Putn and vice versa.

It's ironic that after ten years of everyone angrily telling Americans the world doesn't revolve around them... this crisis has legs because Russia thinks it's all about an American dominated organization.  Meanwhile the Americans for a change don't think this remotely revolves around us.

[nenjin]

Morally you can't really fault Crimea for doing exactly what the current Ukrainian government did.

I think most of the fault is found specifically in Crimea not being allowed to do anything.

Huh missed that edit.
Yeah, it isn't Crimea that's trying to do this, it's Russia. The referendum and the 'Crimean parliament' that's organized it are illegitimate, as in Russia orchestrated every part via force of arms.

There's been enough popular demonstration on the streets that I don't think Russia is behind everything. They may have an intimate roll in the new Crimean government, but I don't think it's strictly a Russian endeavor.

It's honestly very sad, you know? Wonderfully educated, good-natured, kind people calling each other scum just because some hate NATO more than Putn and vice versa.

It's ironic that after ten years of everyone angrily telling Americans the world doesn't revolve around them... this crisis has legs because Russia thinks it's all about an American dominated organization.  Meanwhile the Americans for a change don't think this remotely revolves around us.

I think it's more "Russia vs. Not Russia", with America leading the last bit. We get used as a polarizing factor in pretty much anything we're involved in. Not always without reason.

[GlyphGryph]

Undoubtedly there's a bit of support for Russia somewhere. When Russia has completely shut down the Crimean news system, though, and have shown a willingness to organize groups of people and claim they are native Crimeans it makes it VERY difficult to say anything with any degree of sureness. I would be fine with people on the steets advocating for what Russia is claiming they are advocating for, and I'd argue they would have every right to do that, but I haven't seen any convincing evidence yet that it's actually happening beyond a handful of opportunist politicians with guns at their heads deciding that Pro-Russia is a really good position to hold right now, and a handful (on the streets) of the pro-russian fascist groups I mentioned earlier (who, unlike in Maidain, don't seem to be a part of some larger movement).

If you've got any sources on the pro-russia protests, though, I'd appreciate them, since I've seen very little on that.

[XXSockXX]

If you've got any sources on the pro-russia protests, though, I'd appreciate them, since I've seen very little on that.

Here's an older one and here a newer one. The older one is more interesting since it was before there were Russian troops in Crimea.
I've seen more in articles and TV, so there were many pro-Russian protests in Crimea, though they seem to have become more prevalent with the leadership change and the arrival of Russian troops.

It is probably safe to say that a significant majority of the Russian population in Crimea supports joining Russia now. Correspondents have seen pro-Ukrainian protests too, but these were fewer and smaller by far (also no surprise with Russian troops in the country).

Generally speaking the whole crisis in Ukraine has fueled Russian national sentiment enormously, both in Russia but also everywhere where there are Russian minorities. Apparently that is true even for people who normally are not overtly patriotic, that seems to be confirmed by what the Russians in this thread are describing.
In Crimea Russians are a majority, so that was not surprising. There were also pro-Russian protests in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, which - with the tone we hear from Russian media - is a reason to worry that Putin might want to try something there too. The Ukrainian military is now trying to secure the Eastern border just in case, which is also why they won't intervene in Crimea. (Apart from the fact that they probably couldn't achieve much there.)
And of course the Baltic states, where Russians are up to 25% of the population, are worried, though they have been reassured that they don't need to worry, which I guess as NATO members they don't need to.

[Sheb]

Still, I'd like to hear from the Russians here what the West should do to not be seen as the enemy. Forbid Ukrainians to join NATO?

[GlyphGryph]

It is probably safe to say that a significant majority of the Russian population in Crimea supports joining Russia now.

Thanks for the links. The question, of course, is whether or not that represents a majority of the Crimean population. Although we'll probably never know that, now.

[Sheb]

Since we can assume almost all Ukrainians and Tatars would vote again, you'd need something like 85% of yes vote among the ethnic Russian population. Given the fact that very few ethnic Russians soldiers seems to have deserted, it doesn't sound far-fetched to imagine that at least 20% of ethnic Russians would vote against.

Of course, there is plenty of dirty tricks they could pull off (closing polling station early in Ukrainian/Tatar areas, "forgetting" to give them enough ballot paper) etc etc to tip the balance.

[Owlbread]

Or maybe they'll just do what they did in Chechnya and count the occupying soldiers' votes.

[Dutchling]

Where do you guys get the crazy idea from that the votes are in any way whatsoever related to the outcome of the poll ?

[Sheb]

Or maybe they'll just do what they did in Chechnya and count the occupying soldiers' votes.

That could be hard to pull off, since Crimea ain't part of the Russian federation yet.

[MarcAFK]

But the occupying soldiers aren't Russian, they're spontaneous domestic militia!
Therefore their vote totally counts.

[Helgoland]

Headline: "E=mc² disproven! Local defence militias spontaneously materialize in Crimea!"