Monday, March 17, 2014

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- March 17, 2014



After Crimea, East And South Ukraine Ask If They Are Next For Russia -- Steve Gutterman, Reuters

(Reuters) - As Russian forces took control of Crimea in the last few weeks, Russian media started referring to a broad belt of land in southern Ukraine as Novorossiya, or New Russia.

The revival of the Tsarist-era name plays well with Russian voters and harks back to a remark in 2008 when President Vladimir Putin told NATO leaders the area contained "only Russians". Six years on, Ukrainians are worried that comment is starting to look prophetic.

With Russia's armed forces holding war games near the border and Moscow threatening to intervene to halt violence against Russians in Ukraine, some fear Putin will not stop at Crimea and may try to grab more territory in the east and south.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

What further sanctions could Russia face? -- BBC

Tourism hotspot, gas giant, cash drain? What's Crimea to Russia? -- Elizabeth Piper, Reuters

Regardless of US and EU Sanctions, Russia Is Already Paying A Huge Price For Invading Crimea -- Mark Adomanis, Forbes

While West Focuses on Crimea, Russia Continues To Make Trouble in the Middle East -- Josh Cohen, The Tablet

Time running out for even a framework for Middle East talks -- Tom Cohen, CNN

Israel's 'Jewish state' hangup: Why Netanyahu and Abbas can't agree -- Christa Case Bryant, Christian Science Monitor

Why Did Obama Meet With Abbas in Washington? -- Lee Smith, The Tablet

Obama’s Middle East fallacy -- Jackson Diehl, Washington Post

Egypt's coup has plunged the country into catastrophe -- Yahia Hamed, The Guardian

Three years after Gaddafi, Libya is imploding into chaos and violence -- Patrick Cockburn, The Independent

Scotland will be powerless to defend itself -- John McAnally, Daily Telegraph

Canada’s separatism fatigue -- Rex Murphy, National Post

Al Qaeda The Second Act -- Patrick Cockburn, Independent

2 comments:

James said...

As I have commented before, I really don't understand why Putin is doing this. I'm not all that impressed with the "Recreation of Greater Russia" theory. Putin has risked a lot for just the Crimea or the Ukraine for that matter. His two greatest near threats are China and radical Islamicism. How this would fit in with them is hard to see. I have to think on this some more, my thoughts are losing some coherence on the subject.

James said...

People will look back and say that this was the moment that NATO was exposed as the social club it's been for awhile and the EU realized that they were alone and essentially defenseless.