Crimea: Russian Language, Russian Heroes, and Russian Culture

Thousands of ethnic Russians in Crimea are protesting against the new Government in Kiev, pulling that nation towards the West. A lot of Russians still live in Crimea, but they aren't alone. Ethnic Ukrainians live in the north, Russians in the south, and a third group called Tatars in the middle. Historians still aren't exactly clear why Russia gave Crimea away in 1954.

Both Russia and the Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union at the time, and it supposedly had something to do with "strengthening brotherly ties"... but one thing is clear: Russian President Vladimir Putin has no intention of letting that "gift" slip too far from his hands. Russia has staged military drills in districts that border Ukraine, a reminder of Russia's armed power, and interest in the region.

Russian Language, Russian Heroes, and Russian Culture

Parts of Crimea including Sevastopol are described as 'little Russia' and activists there have vowed it will remain so, no matter what happens with the rest of Ukraine.

The demonstrations in Crimea serve to display the broad divide in that region, as well as the rest of Ukraine, as part of the country reaches towards the West, with the other group staunchly Pro-Russian. During protests this week, one group waved Ukrainian flags and shouted "Crimea is not Russia," while the other held Russian flags aloft and shouted "Crimea is Russia".

If for no other reason than pride alone, Putin will not let Ukraine slip from the Russian sphere of influence. In 2005 Putin called the fall of the Soviet Union the "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century". To allow Ukraine to turn to the West would make him no better than Mikhail Gorbachev, who presided over the Soviet empire’s dissolution in 1991.

Further fueling what can only be called a cultural and political divide in Crimea, when the Soviet Union dissolved, there was a desire by locals for the region to rejoin Russia, but ultimately Ukrainian and Crimean lawmakers intervened and voted to stay in Ukraine.

And don't forget Yalta. In 1945 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchil (the Allied leaders), and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, met to divide up Europe. That meeting, which laid the groundwork for the Cold War, took place in the Crimean resort of Yalta.

In addition to the historical concerns, there is also the practical issue of the Russian Black Sea Fleet which has called Crimea home for 230 years...Ships and subs based there are just north of Turkey and can reach the Mediterranean to influence the Middle East and the Balkans. 

Sevastopol, the city where the fleet is based, clearly remains significant for Russia. In 2010, Moscow gave Ukraine a good deal on natural gas, partly in exchange for Kiev extending the Russian Navy lease on the base in Ukraine.

But there is another more sinister element to this whole story. The Tatar portion of the Ukrainian population is driving this divide. The Tatar's have an ax to grind with Russia since Stalin ejected them in the 1950's. The Tatar's are of Muslim decent, and as far as the people of Crimea are concerned, this group is seeking a Crimean Muslim state.

This is one dispute that we must stay out of. We cannot destroy US military assets and readiness, as we've allowed Barack Obama to do, and then try and be the World's police. And no one can say with any certainty that we have the right, the will, or the means to do anything other than stay quiet.