The Serenity Prayer and Crimea

[DGS49]

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. "

Nobody is going to convince the Russians to "give back" Crimea. It is a done deal. Ukraine needs to accept it and make the most of a bad situation.

The regime in Kiev right now is so rabidly anti-Russian that they are incapable of rational thought. If they were thinking rationally they would be pushing Russia and the international community to set up a framework to NEGOTIATE the terms under which Russia will take over Crimea. If they were to do so, they would have at least a chance of coming out of looking like something other than impotent fools (along with Our Beloved President).

The Ukrainians should prepare a manageable list of points of negotiation, and try to force, diplomatically, negotiations between the two regimes. Among the topics for negotiation might be:

• Reparations for the land and natural resources of Crimea,
• Reparations for the lost tax revenues,
• Full and free access to the Black Sea ports for the Ukrainian navy.
• Free emigration of ethnic Ukrainians from Crimea to Ukraine proper, and vice versa.
• Retained ownership of the military assets of Ukraine, as granted to them when the USSR dissolved.
• Rational borders, rational border measures (passport required? visa required?)
  Provisions to bring cash and tangible assets across the border for commerce or personal purposes.

They could come out of this just fine if they rely on diplomacy rather than sabre rattling, posturing, and threats (all of which are pointless).

 

[waltky]

Bridge to link Crimea to Russia postponed for a year...

Russia Pushes Back 'Putin's Bridge' to Annexed Crimea by a Year
April 13, 2016 — Russia has pushed back the completion date of a showcase multi-billion dollar bridge to link the Russian mainland with annexed Crimea by one year, saying the original plan had to be adjusted to take account of the weight of the trains that will cross it.

The Kremlin sees the bridge, which will span the Kerch Strait, as vital to integrating Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014. President Vladimir Putin has called the project an historic mission. Extending 19 km (11.8 miles), the project, which will be two separate parallel structures - one for road and another for train traffic - will be the longest bridge Russia has ever built and the longest such dual-purpose span in Europe. Construction of the road part is on schedule, but Reuters has learned that the rail segment deadline has been put back by a year, giving the contractor - a firm controlled by Putin's former judo partner with no experience of building bridges - more time to complete the 212-billion-rouble ($3.2 billion) project.

The delay underscores the huge logistical, financial and political challenges the Kremlin faces trying to breathe life into the economically deprived Black Sea peninsula at a time when it cannot draw on Western expertise due to sanctions imposed on Russia. A Russian government order from last year said the bridge had to be operational by December 18, 2018 - a deadline Putin has repeatedly emphasized given the importance of the project to the struggling Russian economy and to Crimea, which Moscow can only supply by sea and air because of a Ukrainian land blockade.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (S) visits the construction site of the Kerch Strait bridge on Tuzla Island, Crimea, March 18, 2016. Putin traveled to Crimea to mark the second anniversary of the peninsula's seizure from Ukraine.​

But Rosavtodor, Russia's federal road agency, said in answer to questions from Reuters that the deadline had now been changed and that the rail segment would not be operational until the end of 2019, a year later than initially planned. "In the process of government experts reviewing the project to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait the deadlines were worked out in detail," a spokesman for the agency said in a statement, calling the original deadline "preliminary." Building the railway bridge was more time-consuming and technically complex than the road one, he said, because it would have to bear more weight and would need signaling and specia communications equipment. He did not explain why those factors were not taken into account in the original plan. "Because of this, the bridge builders will need a little more time to do the rail part of the bridge and plan to start train traffic before the end of 2019," the spokesman said. The rail element was independent of the road component, he said. That part is on track to open on time at the end of 2018.

Minutes of a meeting Putin held with ministers last month during a visit to the construction site for the bridge – dubbed "Putin's bridge" by some Russians - show the president was informed about the delay at the time and was initially unhappy with what he heard. The mention of a delay at the meeting near Tuzla Spit – a wind-lashed body of sand that juts into the Kerch Strait towards Crimea - went unnoticed by the media at the time. The minutes, available on the Kremlin's website, show Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov gave Putin a different explanation to the one supplied by Rosavtodor to Reuters, telling him the railway part was being built later because there was only light rail traffic in Crimea in winter, an excuse that appeared to irritate Putin. "Railway traffic is light for as long as there is no railway (bridge)," Putin shot back. "If there will be one (a railway bridge) then ports will start to work differently and then there will be traffic."

Putin's judo partner

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says, "Yea - dey broke rules on doping in the Olympics too...

US Official: Russia Broke Rules of 'World Order' in Annexing Crimea
August 05, 2016 | WASHINGTON — Russia’s actions against Ukraine and the potential threat it poses to other countries in its neighborhood has become an issue in the U.S. presidential race, thanks largely to comments made by Donald Trump.

The Republican candidate told a U.S. television interviewer late last month that the people of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, “would rather be with Russia” and that, if elected, he would “take a look at” recognizing the Black Sea peninsula as Russian territory. The United States and European Union imposed sanctions on Russia following its annexation of Crimea, and expanded them after Moscow began providing military assistance to separatists in eastern Ukraine. Amid the controversy sparked by his comments, Trump stood by them, saying Crimea was annexed by Moscow “during Obama’s watch,” and asking: “Do you want to have World War III to get it back?”

An armed man, believed to be a Russian soldier, stands guard outside a military base in Perevalne, near the Crimean city of Simferopol, March 21, 2014, during the days of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula.​

In an interview with VOA’s Myroslava Gongadze, Michael Carpenter, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense with responsibility for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, said Russia’s actions in Crimea have violated a host of international norms and treaties, including the United Nations Charter. “Russia, in its invasion and illegal attempted occupation and annexation of Crimea, broke essentially every rule in the basic fundament of the international world order, from sovereignty, territorial integrity, the inviolability of borders.”

On continued conflict in Ukraine

Carpenter noted that the fighting in eastern Ukraine, which has already claimed nearly 10,000 lives, has intensified in recent days. “Sadly, we see the violence today is at a very high level, as high as it's been since… before the original Minsk agreement was signed in September a year ago. And so we continue to see this play out in front of our eyes, which is tragic.” Carpenter added that Ukraine is not the only country that has been the target of Russian military actions in recent years. “Russia displayed similar aggressive tendencies where it also violated international law, in terms of its invasion of Georgia in 2008,” Carpenter said.

On NATO

Trump was recently asked by the New York Times newspaper whether NATO member countries — including new ones like the three Baltic states — can count on the United States to come to their military aid if they were attacked by Russia. The Republican presidential candidate answered yes, if they have “fulfilled their obligations to us.” In the same interview, Trump said that “we have many NATO members that aren’t paying their bills.” Elsewhere, he has also called NATO “obsolete.”

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Carpenter said the Baltic states — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — and other NATO members can rely on the United States to come to their defense. “I think that the Baltic states and, in fact, all the other allies along the eastern flank of the alliance should feel that: a) we have got their back; b) that we are investing in the capabilities and the force posture to deter Russian aggression or, frankly, any other aggression against them.” Carpenter also noted that the United States is putting military forces into eastern Europe on a bilateral basis to help defend the NATO members there.

US Official: Annexing Crimea, Russia Broke All Rules of 'World Order'

 

[Katzndogz]

Didn't Crimea vote to go back to Russia?