Crimean parliament asks to join Russia

@reaper4278: A few...they shouldn't have any. They have 37 seats with six major cabinet positions within Arseniy Yatsenyuk's government, approved by the Ukrainian parliament; including deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Secretary of the National Security and National Defense Committee, People's Deputy and Prosecutor General.

"I am interested to hear where you are from, it could help us understand where you are coming from and why."

No, it won't. Take yourself, for example. You're a US citizen who has a dog in this fight. Why? Why is this situation so important?

Interim...they impeached the previous guys, yes? Were they sick? Yes it's interesting but not so much to where the US needs to get involved. That usually doesn't end well, as we know.

Hopefully Crimea stays russian

@reaper4278: Well, if you knew me like the rest, you wouldn't find it so strange. You don't know me, which is a given considering you've signed up just a few days ago with only 47 posts. I mean, I'd tell you except I find your self-appointed inquisitor status rather amusing. So, it's funnier this way.

US/UK should NOT have asked Ukraine to dump their nuclear weapons in exchange for keeping (2) Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Smaller non-nuclear armed nations should obtain their own nuclear defence options.

France is proven correct for having an independent nuclear defence option from the USA.

Reference and Notes

1. http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/the-ukraine-crisis-is-unsettling-decades-old-nuclear-weapons-agreements-20140312

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/10/ukraine-nuclear/6250815/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances

2. Ukraine should have asked USA's definition word play BS on "assurance" vs "guarantee".

3. You can thank the USSR version 2.0 for destroying the non-proliferation of nuclear weapon agreements.

Ahh...so that what this is all about. There had to be a reason behind the US's involvement - a real reason, not that drivel that Barry was expressing about international law.

The piece of paper that US president Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister John Major and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed is worthless.

Barry's statements wasn't original e.g. http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2011/05/trilateral-process-pifer

From http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-explainer-budapest-memorandum/25280502.html

"Under the memorandum, Ukraine promised to remove all Soviet-era nuclear weapons from its territory, send them to disarmament facilities in Russia, and sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Ukraine kept these promises.

In return, Russia and the Western signatory countries essentially consecrated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine as an independent state. They did so by applying the principles of territorial integrity and nonintervention in 1975 Helsinki Final Act -- a Cold War-era treaty signed by 35 states including the Soviet Union -- to an independent post-Soviet Ukraine."

http://unterm.un.org/DGAACS/unterm.nsf/8fa942046ff7601c85256983007ca4d8/fa03e45d114224af85257b64007687e0?OpenDocument

One of the three Budapest Memorandums of 5 December 1994; was signed by the Presidents of Ukraine, Russian Federation and United States of America, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in connection with the accession of Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It provided national security assurances to Ukraine on behalf of those countries. Later, China and France joined its provisions in the form of individual statements. The Joint Declaration by the Russian Federation and the United States of America of 4 December 2009 confirmed the security guarantees for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine that were set out in the Budapest Memorandums of 5 December 1994, the other two being:

Smaller nations like Ukraine should have kept their nukes i.e. independent nuclear weapon option just like France.

Countries with the nuclear option simply don't get messed with. It's sad but true.

so sweet