Current Event #4

Ukraine Mobilizes For War, Calls Up Reserves

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/02/ukraine-russia-putin_n_4884064.html?utm_hp_ref=world

Russian soldiers around one of the captured Ukraine airports



Crimean Peninsula (white), along with Ukraine (green) and Russia (orange-red)

Ukraine is mobilizing for war in response to Russian activities inside Ukraine and the seizing of Crimea. The disagreements between Russia and Ukraine escalated in recent months with protests in the city of Kiev. The president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, had announced in November that Ukraine was going seek closer ties with Russia instead of with the European Union. After three months of street violence, the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove Yanukovych from office and stage new elections. Last week, pro-Russian residents of Crimea protested against the government in Kiev and Russia has sent military forces into Crimea to seize Ukrainian bases. Russia wants the Crimean Peninsula because of their naval base and access to the Black Sea (and the Mediterranean Sea).

This article relates to what we are doing in class (studying World War II) in that the Germans annexed a region called the Sudetenland, annexed Austria and seized Czechoslovakia to 'protect' ethnic Germans. There are similarities between what is happening now and what happened before World War II. Russia has just hosted Olympic Games and Germany hosted the games in 1936. Russia invades Crimea to protect ethnic Russians and the Germans did the same in to their neighbors. The West did nothing to stop Hitler and we will see what is done to stop Russia now.

The authors point of view is that Ukraine is practically defenseless against Russia. The authors of this article said that Ukraine's "tiny armed forces would be no match against the might of its superpower neighbour". Natalia Zinets and Alissa de Carbonnel back this up by described the small army and "planes barely able to fly". They quote the commander of a navy post, Colonel Igor Manchev, refusing to surrender and saying that his men will "...carry out our duty until the end."

I believe that war is not a good way to settle these issues and that violence will not help the situation in Ukraine. I do think that Russia and Ukraine will wind up going to war but that it will be a short war with Russia winning. The west will try to help with speeches, but has done nothing to stop Russia in the past, such as when they invaded Georgia to 'protect Russian citizens'. There are many people in Ukraine who are ethnic Russians who want to be united with Russia again.

Zinets, Natalia. "Ukraine Mobilizes For War, Calls Up Reserves." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/02/ukraine-russia-putin_n_4884064.html?utm_hp_ref=world>.
Russia Soldiers. 2014. Photograph. CNN. Cable News Network, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/world/europe/ukraine-politics/>.
Electionworld. Crimean Map. 2006. Photograph. Wikipedia. Mediawiki, 29 Dec. 2006. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crimeamap.png>.