The crimea - is the western world running blindly into the valley of death, yet again

history is supposed to teach us lessons, but the lesson of history is that we seldom listen to our teacher. I feel that we in the west have produced a knee jerk reaction to what has happened in Crimea. There has been no reference to its geographical ties or its historical development. As one who comes from Ireland, I am at a loss to explain why our country, who fought a bloody civil war to exercise its local freedom is now advocating sanctions on a country who helped its neighbour do just the same.

Sanctions are a lot different than war. Ukraine's borders have been recognized by pretty much the entire world and you can't let Russia annex territory without any consequence. Putin has often been quoted regarding his love for the old USSR. It already appears that he is going to try to take more than Crimea from Ukraine. And where will he stop? Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania? Much of the people of Chechnya would like to form their own country, yet Putin would never recognize such. Why should we recognize the sham vote held in Crimea?

It's pretty wild how eerily similiar this is playing out compared to NATO courting Georgia and the Ossetian separatists a few years back.

That port,the Black Sea, and the natural gas infrastructure are way too important, I don't see how Putin could proceed any other way. Plus the whole West encroachment as a whole. It'll be interesting to see how Turkey reacts with regard to their straits and future Russian treatment of the Crimean Tatars. And whatever is going on in Moldova at present.

A few years back United States, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, and France if I am not mistaken agreed to protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine if Ukraine would relinquished their nuclear weapons. I think we are seeing what that commitment means to each party today. I don't think anyone is "blindly" running into a confrontation with Russia over this but some are more openly opposed then others. Unfortunately, the Tartars are the losers in all of this.