Crimea Sactions

Mikhail Gorbachev blames the current situation in Ukraine on the failure of Perestroika and the hasty breakup of the Soviet Union.

  RT

And, by golly, I think he’s right. I miss Gorby. (Some of you may remember how the US press – and especially right wing Christians - demonized him, saying the port-wine marking on the top of his head was a mark from God showing that Gorbachev was the 666 Beast.) He was trying at the time to steward in the desired democratic changes at a manageable pace and keep the union solvent.

The Soviet Union was a huge, bulky, volatile apparatus that simply couldn’t turn on a dime. But at that time, when Gorbachev was made obsolete, and Yeltsin was ushered in to lead Russia, with great help from the US and her lackies, all the hoopla in the press was about how the Soviet Union needed to stop dallying with change, and how the Soviet people wanted their independence - and anticipated turn to western-style democracy - NOW! But look what happened. Yeltsin turned out to be a poorly chosen, and impossible to prop up, drunken fool, and Russia has had to return to an iron hand ruler.

I get it that when people get the fever about being independent , they aren’t particularly rational and can be easily stirred to a boiling mess by outside agitators with promises of funding and political support. How often has that panned out? I can think of one time: Israel. There may be more, but it seems like most of the time the people end up trying to fend for themselves, sometimes to their fatal detriment. Mr. Gorbachev understood that change couldn’t be drastic and overnight without causing great damage. Hey, let’s have a look at some modern examples: Iraq, Libya, Egypt…and here we go Crimea.

[Gorbachev] added that the media should stop adding to the tension preventing a tragic schism between two brotherly nations.

Well, they just wouldn’t be the media if they did, now, would they?

The former Soviet leader holds that the original cause of the current dire situation in Ukraine and Crimea lies in the “deliberate wrecking of Perestroika and in the thoughtless and adventurist dissolving of the Soviet Union.” “I was fighting to keep the union state by all political means I had at my disposal. I would like to emphasize – these were political means. Both before and after the pact was made by the heads of the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine in the Belavezha Forest I was warning about the dangerous and destructive consequences,” Gorbachev said in the message. “Unfortunately they did not listen to my warnings.”

Nobody listens to old Russian dictators being driven out of relevance, not even when they’re right.

The US has imposed sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials on Monday, with the White House stating that "the actions and policies" of the Russian government with respect to Ukraine "undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets."

  RT

Let me guess…Crimea has “assets” that Urkraine – and thus the west – will not be getting.

According to Obama’s executive order, the sanctions are aimed at targeting the assets of the officials listed and to bar them from entering US territory.

Seriously, how many Russian officials have assets outside Russia (maybe that’s a big deal – I don’t know), but how sad will they be that they can’t come here?

It seems I’m not the only one questioning that. One of the Russians on the sanctions list tweeted this:

The US announcement came shortly after the European Union applied travel bans and asset freezes on Monday against 21 people from Russia and Ukraine, who it believes were linked to the secession of Crimea from Ukraine.

[...]

Andrey Klishas, a member of the Federation Council, also among the sanctioned officials, noted that he was “quite satisfied” with the company of people he found himself in.

[...]

The 21 named officials are part of an original list that EU had drawn up last week that ran at about 120-130 people, Reuters reported. It has since been shortened.

Jesus.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.