Analysis of the Ukrainian Situation - 6 June

*****This is going to be a quick opinion piece, which I may elaborate on in the future.*****

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Oh Putin, what have you gotten into?

In Ukraine, what began as a national reform movement was quickly hijacked by ultra-nationalists who then forced the then Ukrainian president to flee.  Now granted, he was not a very good president, but that doesn't change that he a was still a democratically elected official, and the thuggish response to his unpopular policies was, in my opinion unwarranted.

But on the other side, it's very obvious (at least to me), that the Russian president's actions here are motivated by his desire to maintain control over the naval base at Sevastopol.  Maybe his pretenses about "defending ethnic Russians" are true to en extent, but strategic interest is the obvious motivator on this one.

On the Crimean referendum, I respect the people's right to democratically decide upon secession from Ukraine and accession to the Russian Federation, and it's clear that that's exactly what they wanted.  However, I think that Crimea becoming a part of Russia is a bad idea simply because Crimea is not self-sufficient in food, electricity, and water, and isn't even connected to Russia, making it very difficult to administer, so I feel that the Crimean Russians are being a bit shortsighted on their decision.

And, on one last note, I want to say that the political left's continual equivocation of the new Kiev government to fascists, is inappropriate.  The new government does not support centralized totalitarian government or aggressive militarism, so they can't be considered fascist by definition, so I hope my comrades here on DA will stop likening them as such in the future.

Let's hope this doesn't turn into a Third World War.