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originally posted by: Xcathdra
Alaska was purchased from Russia and voted for state hood in the 1950's.
originally posted by: Xcathdra
The story about the Donald Cook was proven to be false.
originally posted by: Xcathdra
Russia has been afforded every opportunity to present its evidence to the United Nations to support the claims it has made and has thus far failed to do so.
originally posted by: Xcathdra
How about Chechnya? Dagestan? The illegal annexation and occupation of Koinesberg?
originally posted by: theultimatebelgianjoke
Crimea was voted to Russian statehood in 2014 ...
It's fuelled by the same imperialism, that pushed the US to wreak havoc in Irak, Afghanistan, Vietnam, ...
originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
I must have missed where it was legally purchased? Did the US simply move troops in and steal Alaska? How are they at all similar?
originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
So you are saying Russia is simply imperialistic and that is why it's being hypocritical? I agree, it is.
originally posted by: theultimatebelgianjoke
a reply to: Xcathdra
Go, explain him ...
‘We did what we had to do’: Putin opens up on Crimea reunification plan
originally posted by: Xcathdra
and yet putin stated the reason Russia invaded Ukraine, Crimea was to protect Ethnic Russian being slaughtered by the Ukrainians, which never happened. Then he stated the reason he invaded Crimea was to prevent it from falling into NATO hands. Then it was because of an unfriendly government being put into place in Kiev.
Putin will keep lying depending on the time and what the current situation is.
The fact remains he invaded a sovereign country and is illegally occupying Ukrainian territory while violating not only international law, but the Budapest agreement along with Soviet and Russian law.
Putin is a 2 bit hack and liar who aspires to be Stalin light.
The US and the EU have never recognized the Crimea referendum and reacted to it by sanctions against Russia and against the peninsula.
Russian officials have dismissed criticism of the Crimean referendum, citing Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence as an example of self-determination praised by the West.
The issue has recently been touched upon again by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“When it comes to international law and the attention it gets in particular in connection with the issue of Crimea, we would want our Western colleagues to have no less enthusiasm in dealing with other events in recent history,” Lavrov said.
“These include OSCE members bombing another OSCE member, I mean Yugoslavia, the situation with the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo – without any referendums. No one then even bothered to ask why it happened without a referendum. And also the invasion of Iraq under a fake pretext, and the rude violation of the UN Security Council mandate concerning Libya. A country has been destroyed and now everyone is trying to glue its pieces back together and is asking oneself of how not to allow disintegration of other countries in the region.”
Claim: NATO's operation over Libya was illegitimate
The NATO-led operation was launched under the authority of two UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR), 1970 and 1973, both quoting Chapter VII of the UN Charter, and neither of which was opposed by Russia.
UNSCR 1973 authorized the international community "to take all necessary measures" to "protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack". This is what NATO did, with the political and military support of regional states and members of the Arab League.
After the conflict, NATO cooperated with the UN International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, which found no breach of UNSCR 1973 or international law, concluding instead that "NATO conducted a highly precise campaign with a demonstrable determination to avoid civilian casualties."
Claim: NATO's operation over Kosovo was illegitimate
Fact: The NATO operation for Kosovo followed over a year of intense efforts by the UN and the Contact Group, of which Russia was a member, to bring about a peaceful solution. The UN Security Council on several occasions branded the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and the mounting number of refugees driven from their homes as a threat to international peace and security. NATO's Operation Allied Force was launched to prevent the large-scale and sustained violations of human rights and the killing of civilians.
Following the air campaign, the subsequent NATO-led peacekeeping operation, KFOR, which initially included Russia, has been under UN mandate (UNSCR 1244), with the aim of providing a safe and secure environment in Kosovo.
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Claim: The cases of Kosovo and Crimea are identical
Fact: The Kosovo operation was conducted following exhaustive discussion involving the whole international community dealing with a long-running crisis that was recognized by the UN Security Council as a threat to international peace and security.
Following the operation, the international community engaged in nearly ten years of diplomacy, under UN authority, to find a political solution and to settle Kosovo's final status, as prescribed by UNSCR 1244.
In Crimea, there was no pre-existing crisis, no attempt to discuss the situation with the Ukrainian government, no involvement of the United Nations, and no attempt at a negotiated solution.
In Kosovo, international attempts to find a solution took over 3,000 days. In Crimea, Russia annexed part of Ukraine's territory in less than 30 days. It has sought to justify its illegal and illegitimate annexation, in part, by pointing to a "referendum" that was inconsistent with Ukrainian law, held under conditions of illegal armed occupation with no freedom of expression or media access for the opposition, and without any credible international monitoring.
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Claim: Russia's annexation of Crimea was justified by the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the independence of Kosovo (online here).
Fact: The court stated that their opinion was not a precedent. The court said they had been given a "narrow and specific" question about Kosovo's independence which would not cover the broader legal consequences of that decision.
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Ukraine president appoints ex-Georgia leader Saakashvili governor
Saakashvili energetically supported Ukraine's Euromaidan movement
The ex-Israeli soldier who led a Kiev fighting unit
Ukraine: Israeli Special Forces Unit under Neo-Nazi Command Involved in Maidan Riots?
The Puppet Masters Behind Georgia President Saakashvili
Mihkail Saakashvili was deliberately placed in power in one of the most sophisticated US regime change operations, using ostensibly private NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) to create an atmosphere of popular protest against the existing regime of former Soviet Foreign Minister Edouard Shevardnadze, who was no longer useful to Washington when he began to make a deal with Moscow over energy pipelines and privatizations.
Saakashvili was brought to power in a US-engineered coup run on the ground by US-funded NGO’s, in an application of a new method of US destabilization of regimes it considered hostile to its foreign policy agenda. The November 24 2003 Wall Street Journal explicitly credited the toppling of Shevardnadze's regime to the operations of "a raft of non-governmental organizations . . . supported by American and other Western foundations." These NGOs, said the Journal, had "spawned a class of young, English-speaking intellectuals hungry for pro-Western reforms" who were instrumental laying the groundwork for a bloodless coup.
Coup by NGO
Civil Georgia (Mar. 22, 2004) until 2005, the salaries of Saakashvili and many of his ministers were reportedly paid by the NGO network of New York-based currency speculator Soros—along with the United Nations Development Program.
Israel US military train Georgian military
The current military assault on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in violation of Saakashvili’s pledge to seek a diplomatic not military solution to the territorial disputes, is backed by US and Israeli military “advisers.” Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that on August 10, Georgian Minister of Reintegration, Temur Yakobshvili, “praised the Israel Defense Forces for its role in training Georgian troops
Claim: NATO's operation over Kosovo was illegitimate
Fact: The NATO operation for Kosovo followed over a year of intense efforts by the UN and the Contact Group, of which Russia was a member, to bring about a peaceful solution. The UN Security Council on several occasions branded the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and the mounting number of refugees driven from their homes as a threat to international peace and security. NATO's Operation Allied Force was launched to prevent the large-scale and sustained violations of human rights and the killing of civilians.
Following the air campaign, the subsequent NATO-led peacekeeping operation, KFOR, which initially included Russia, has been under UN mandate (UNSCR 1244), with the aim of providing a safe and secure environment in Kosovo.
Claim: The cases of Kosovo and Crimea are identical
Fact: The Kosovo operation was conducted following exhaustive discussion involving the whole international community dealing with a long-running crisis that was recognized by the UN Security Council as a threat to international peace and security.
Following the operation, the international community engaged in nearly ten years of diplomacy, under UN authority, to find a political solution and to settle Kosovo's final status, as prescribed by UNSCR 1244.
In Crimea, there was no pre-existing crisis, no attempt to discuss the situation with the Ukrainian government, no involvement of the United Nations, and no attempt at a negotiated solution.
In Kosovo, international attempts to find a solution took over 3,000 days. In Crimea, Russia annexed part of Ukraine's territory in less than 30 days. It has sought to justify its illegal and illegitimate annexation, in part, by pointing to a "referendum" that was inconsistent with Ukrainian law, held under conditions of illegal armed occupation with no freedom of expression or media access for the opposition, and without any credible international monitoring.
“When it comes to international law and the attention it gets in particular in connection with the issue of Crimea, we would want our Western colleagues to have no less enthusiasm in dealing with other events in recent history,” Lavrov said.
“These include OSCE members bombing another OSCE member, I mean Yugoslavia, the situation with the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo – without any referendums. No one then even bothered to ask why it happened without a referendum. And also the invasion of Iraq under a fake pretext, and the rude violation of the UN Security Council mandate concerning Libya. A country has been destroyed and now everyone is trying to glue its pieces back together and is asking oneself of how not to allow disintegration of other countries in the region.”