Democracy, Russian style
Tue, 2014-03-11 19:33
News Staff
By Tom Haughey.
The Crimean Parliament has voted unanimously to hold a referendum to secede from the Ukraine and become a part of Russia. They had little choice but to vote the way they did since they were surrounded by Russian soldiers at the time who ordered them to take the vote. Those same Russian soldiers, of course, will control the counting of votes during the referendum. The outcome is assured. By popular demand (complete with pro-Russian demonstrations by people bussed across the border for that purpose), the people of the Crimea will vote overwhelmingly to become members of the reconstituted Russian Empire. Meanwhile the West will wring its hands and try to cobble together some sort of sanctions that won’t result in natural gas shortages in Europe when Russia shuts off the spigot.