Thread: Crimea joining the Russian Federation and its implications?

Originally Posted by it-ogo

You have a point. Though what about keeping promices? After the collapse of USSR Ukraine got rid of its part of Soviet nuclear weapon. USA instead officially guaranteed Ukraine's territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders. USA disarmed us for the promice to protect. Now the promice looks broken.

It's wrong to break promises but now Ukraine knows how much the US can be trusted. I'm strill trying to wrap my head around Ukraine giving up it's nuclear status. I wonder if Russia woulda invaded Crimea if Ukraine was still a nuclear power.

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Hmm.. I wouldn't immediately agree with that. The Soviet regime at some point in its time used to displace peoples for various reasons, so the real reason remains uknown.
Population transfer in the Soviet Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I suspect the historical relationship [of several hunded years ago] between the Crimean Tatars and Slavs were probably the least important in the list of the reasons.
Besides, what nation have never traded slaves in their history?
Culturally, the Crimean Tatars strongly associate themselves with Turkey, so if given a chance they would do anything they could to become part of Turkey again.

Thanks for the link. It was just a thought. Even several hundred years doesn't always erase everything. Native Americans still live here on reservations and they have their own laws.

Originally Posted by Hanna

The USA also officially promised not to expand NATO into Eastern Europe, a promise which they broke pretty much immediately after having made it.
I don't see how nukes would make any difference in this conflict anyway. But it's rather disturbing that some people seem to think it's worth bringing up.
From one thing to another. Apparently Russia is going to significantly increase the measly state pensions that old people on Crimea are receiving. I don't see how they can survive on 200 USD per month it seems absolutely impossible unless you have no rent and buy nothing apart from cheap groceries. I was glad to see they will get more money and it's nice that Russia is processing this fast.

$200 USD per month? That's just fun money. Are prices that much lower in Ukraine? I don't think they are much lower in Russia because we were looking at ads for houses with indoor pools and the prices were about the same in the US and Moscow. People need a lot more than $200 to live on.

Originally Posted by UhOhXplode

$200 USD per month? That's just fun money. Are prices that much lower in Ukraine? I don't think they are much lower in Russia because we were looking at ads for houses with indoor pools and the prices were about the same in the US and Moscow. People need a lot more than $200 to live on.

Well maybe you looked at properties marketed at foreigners? I was travelling in that region, and I realised after a while that anything that's translated into English essentially means there is an added 1/3 or sometimes more, to the price, seriously. Or anything that's aimed at Westerners too, or rich locals or Russians. I certainly wasn't looking for villas with a swimmingpool!

I wouldn't presume to know this, but I think there are some VERY cheap flats for rent in the ex USSR area. Some people bought their flats for next to nothing and are now living in properties they own but have no mortgage on. So that's great for for them, and their budget. I met a few people in Belarus who told me that they were living on 800-1000 a month (and were unhappy about it). But there, a lot of things are state subsidized and they wouldn't pay the "real" price for it. Don't think that happens in Ukraine. Just listening to all the discussions about gas price in Ukraine, I am getting the impression that it is make or break for a large part of the population. In the UK they just practically doubled the gas price a while back, but it only affected the very poor seriously. Everybody else could absorb the difference.

I think a lot of people in Ukraine are living very much on the brink of poverty and the it's not easy for many to get a good stable job. You might have hoped that 22 years AFTER the USSR, people would be better off, not worse, but I think for many the situation is quite the opposite and they really have a very dire situation. I read that many millions of Ukrainians are working in Russia because they simply can't get a half decently paying job in the Ukraine. I can't even imagine, how hard that would be.