Listening to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC last night, I learned a couple of things that bear on this Ukraine-Russia situation.
1. Crimea was part of Russia until 1954, when then Premier of Russia, Nikita Kruschev decided to give Crimea to Ukraine. Of course, both Ukraine and Russia were part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, so at that time it perhaps didn't make as much difference as it does today which part of the USSR Crimea belonged to.
2. More important than that, however, is the Budapest Agreement signed in 1994. With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became independent. It also contained a large portion of the Soviet's nuclear weapons, which was a cause of great concern in the free world.
The Budapest Agreement was worked out whereby Ukraine agreed to give up or destroy it's nuclear weapons in exchange for an agreement, signed by the U. S., Great Britain, Russia, and Ukraine, that all parties would respect the boundaries and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
What is a little less clear, at least to me at this point, is whether the Agreement also obligated the other signatories to defend Ukraine if any of the others violated those boundaries.
It could not be clearer that Russia has violated this agreement. Does the agreement also call upon us to defend Ukraine? And would that include military defense? Which would mean war, if Russia didn't back down?
Ralph
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So far, Europe and especially German Chancellor Angela Merkle, have been reluctant to take too strong a stance against Russia. They've pulled out of the June G-8 summit meeting in Sochi, but not yet willing to expel Russia from the group.
ReplyDeleteThis may be why: Europe gets 30% of its gas supply from Russia -- and many of the pipes run through Ukraine. The risk is that Russia could cut that offl