Russia demands surrender of Ukraine's Crimea forces.

[freshwest]

110. I don't think they are accepting economic realities, either, and were not prepared to govern yet.

A link on this thread says that Europe is concerned about the natural gas it recieves from Russia, just as Ukraine does.

But the EU (if that's what we're free to call Europe now?) has no doubt paid for its fuel, but Ukraine has not. So sanctions or actions by Russia can put all of their nations at risk.

No one wants to 'freeze in the dark' and national leaders are responsible for protecting their people from such hardship. So this may or may not turn out how some of us think it will.

I also read in one of the links (everything is disputed, I'm not saying it's correct) that 675K people from Ukraine crossed the border into Russia in January and February alone.

That is a statistic the Russians can argue at the UN, that the change in regime, violence or threat of it, and not from them, has or is now truly causing a humanitarian crisis. This would argue for their calls for an early election to get things in proper order again.

I've also, rightly or wrongly, contended Russians should have a voice in this new national government. And not because 'invading' Ukraine is a good idea - it is a terrible one - if they have proof - to protect their ethnic breathren. Such 'irredentism' which some call is a failed idea, cannot be ignored, no more or less. And to us it may sound crazy to be so determined about it.

All I can say regarding that, is I know Russians who live there, and like them as individuals. And from my conversations with them in the past, they take this idea very seriously. Their willingness to put boots on the grounds where ethnic Russians live, Georgia, Serbia, Iran, Syria and now Ukraine, is as firmly set in their hearts as we are to stop the killing of our citizens and soldiers in foreign countries. They say they are related by blood, and they will not turn their back.

It sounds like an ancient way of thinking. I don't say I am in agreement, but deriding it will not make it go away. They must be assured their relatives are not being harmed. That can be done with UN peace keeping forces, hopefully. We have members here with kin in those areas, and various ideas how this should be handled, and their feelings count, too.

I feel I went offtopic there but there are so many angles in this it's overwhelming. Perhaps most Europeans politics are that way. We just are not as complicated as a continent with thousands of years of war and borders being changed as Europe is.

And when you say 'EU nor in the Euro monetary sysyem,' aren't nations sans the UK on the Euro if they are in the EU. And the UK is in the EU, right?