With the Kievian protests finally fruiting into the ousting of President Victor Yanukovych and the announcement of the interim PM Arseny Yatseniuk that Ukraine will join the EU and forsake the Russian camp, military tension has gripped the country, especially in Crimea. On Saturday Russian forces officially entered Crimea:
News Report
First there was news of minor unrest in the region, then out of nowhere all hell breaks loose. Ukraine, a nation that holds great strategic and geopolitical importance is now in a state of turmoil. The reasons are somewhat similar to those in the Arab world but here the stakes are much higher since Ukraine lies in the middle of two mega military power spheres.
Massive public protests paved the way for the overthrow of the government, the “nationalists” quickly took power and soon a country which was seen as pro-Russian instantly turned sides towards being more pro-Western. The world saw glimpses of yet another conflict between United States and Russia. But the cold war was over! or has it ever been?
On Sunday, Arseniy Yatseniuk said that Ukraine has called up its military reserves to resist Russian “provocations”:
It should be noted here that the region of Crimea holds great significance since it hosts an important Russian military base and a major access route to the Black Sea, which is why Russia had no option but to defend its interests, the United States was quick to react and it threatened Russia with sanctions. All of a sudden the whole world was on high alert, the likes of which were witnessed during the events of Cuban Missile Crisis. All the tactics and counter tactics being applied by the major powers closely resembles those observed during the 1980’s.
The War of Words pursued:
So Crimea is joining Russia, but is that all of Ukraine that will fall into the laps of Russia or is Russia preparing for more, as ‘the Duma has already begun work on a bill that would make it easier for new territories to join Russia’.
