I. Introduction
This essay will discuss Crimea’s recent annexation to Russia, which has caused much international discourse. The annexation and subsequent occurrences reveal key actors’ political motivations and policies. This essay notes that the Crimean annexation is a multifaceted issue that involves many actors, including the United States and many non-state actors. However, this essay will focus on the European region.
First, this essay will briefly summarise relevant historical factors. Second, it will discuss the Ukrainian position and its options following the violation of its sovereignty. Third, it explains Russia’s motivations for it’s anti-western actions and finally, we discuss European policy. This essay will argue that given historical and geopolitical factors, Crimea’s annexation is not entirely extraordinary. More extraordinary, is Russia’s dismissal of international laws and the sovereignty of the state. The Crimean predicament illustrates an ideological struggle between autocracy and the democratic Western world. It highlights the gap between liberalism and realism; particularly where the two systems try to operate in an entirely interdependent but anarchical world structure.
II. Historical information and the current situation
Dispute regarding the status of the Autonomous Region of Crimea may be traced back centuries. In the mid-1990s Crimea was deemed to be a ‘potential centre of unrest’ (Sasse, 2007), although such instability did not culminate. In the transitional period following the Cold War, Crimea eventually assimilated into Ukrainian polity with minimal conflict (Sasse, 2007). Despite assimilation, the majority of Crimean people viewed themselves as Russian (BBC News, 2014). Along with strong et...
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...h case the government will be more inclined to respond to it because of this (Robinson 1-2). With Crimea now part of Russia, perhaps the people of Ukraine can have some self-determined actions.
Crockatt, Richard. The fifty years war : the United States and the Soviet Union in world politics, 1941-1991. London; New York; Routledge, 1995.
“The Sources of Soviet Conduct” Foreign Affairs, 1947, explains the difficulty of summarizing Soviet ideology. For more than 50 years, the Soviet concept held the Russian nations hypnotized, discontented, unhappy, and despondent confined to a very limited Czarist political order. Hence, the rebel support of a bloody Revolution, as a means to “social betterment” (Kennan, 567). Bolshevism was conceptualized as “ideological and moral, not geopolitical or strategic”. Hoover declares that… “five or six great social philosophies were struggling for ascendancy” (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 20).
Up until 1954, Ukraine was a crucial and highly profitable member of the USSR. Strategically placed between Russia and the rest of Europe, Ukraine contains many valuable natural gas pipelines. Crimea is autonomously governed peninsula owned by Ukraine, about two and a half time the sizes of the Island of Hawaii. There are roughly twice as many ethnic Russians as there are Ukrainians and the majority feel closer ties to Russia [1]. Anti-government protests turned violent and in late February, the Ukrainian government fired on protestors, killing dozens and wounding hundreds [2]. On March 6th, the leaders of Crimea stated that they intended to join Russia and are planning a vote on March 16th [3].
Gumuchian, Marie-Louise, Wedeman, Ben, and Lee, Ian. “Ukraine Mobilizes Troops After Russia’s ‘Declaration Of War’.” CNN, 3 Mar. 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2014.
In 2012, the total population of Luhansk comprised approximately 426,000 people. The majority of city´s industrial companies have established connections with the Donbas coal and steel complex (Gentile, 2015). Generally, almost everyone in Ukraine is able to fluently speak and understand Russian, however, a vast number of people are not able to speak Ukrainian. They have an even problem to understand the language (Himka, 2015). In addition, the eastern part of Ukraine is largely urbanized and for this reason, the region more easily assimilated to use of Russian language (Himka, 2015). From the past, it is known that in the 1990s, approximately one-third of the population of Donetsk proclaimed not to support the addition of the Donbas to Ukraine (Shulman, 1998 as quoted in Gentile, 2015). Especially the Russian minority, people from the east, the retired and the poorest tend to be more pro-Russian oriented. They are even willing to follow stronger bonds with Russia (Kubicek, 2000 as quoted in Gentile, 2015). In one of his speeches, Putin mentioned the gone areas of “Novorossiya” including areas of Donbas and Luhansk, that were ceded to the Ukrainian SSR by the Soviet administration in the 1920s (Allison, 2014). This political situation resulted
Myers, Steven. “Russian Troops Mass at Border with Ukraine.” NY Times Website. March 13, 2014. Accessed May 15, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/world/europe/ukraine.html.
The Modern and Classical strands of liberalism share similar principles – indeed if they did not, it would be wrong to classify them as two strands of the same ideology. It seems the fundamental differences between them rely on the ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ views, which define them and which lead on to the fundamental opposition inherent in liberalism: the role of the state.
Although Ukraine has not taken any aggressive action against Russia does not mean they will not has the Ukrainian Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev said "So far, Ukrainian armed f...
"Q&A: Stand-off in Ukraine over EU agreement." BBC News Europe, February 04, 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25182823 (accessed February 7, 2014).
"'Russia Trying to Create Climate of Chaos in Ukraine'" Global Public Square RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Crimea’s history with Russia begins in 1783, when it became an annexed state (Taylor). However, to most of those within the western sphere of schooling most commonly learn about Crimea from the Crimean war. It occurred from 1853 to 1856 and involved Russia, Sardinia, France, Britain, and the Ottoman Empire. After three years of arduous fighting Russia eventually lost the war, but it did manage the keep the treasured peninsula. After the fall of the Russian Empire, in 1921 Crimea became “ The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic” and unquestionably part of the Soviet Union. In the following decades, Crimea much like the rest of Europe endured the strain of the Second World War, but surprisingly in 1945 it was gifted from Russia to the Ukraine. According to Taylor, there are a couple of possi...
Furthermore, the Ukraine and Russia have always shared a history; as both states are embodiments of the process of transformation, that have risen from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of the Cold War. The Ukraine’s material legacy is demographically and territorially close to Russia, thereby, tying the Ukraine to Russia.
I would like to inform you of my concerns regarding the uprising internal conflict in the Ukraine that is currently occurring. The internal conflict has consequently resulted in numbers of social movements arising that are opposed against the government decisions, thus creating a snowball effect that is subsequently out of control. A neighboring country, Russia, in which Ukraine is dependent, has also interfered within their internal affairs that is presently ongoing. Hence, Russia is trespassing and violating Ukraine’s sovereignty. This has placed a significant impact not only on the Ukraine that has been trying to form a stronger bond with the European Union but as well as other neighboring countries.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, wanted to take over Ukraine, Crimea specifically for geopolitical reasons. Vladimir Putin approved military action in Ukraine because it “reserves the right to defend its interests and the Russian speaking people who live there” (Saeed, Gu...