The Status Of Crimea Is Far More Complicated Than Western Media Admits
Eurasia Review
August 1, 2021
By James W. Carden
“If there were a moral to be drawn from the Crimean War which might apply to the present it would be this: in a war between Russia and the West, it is the powers which keep out who will be the the real gainers…” AJP Taylor, February 1951
The issue of Crimea has been back in the news of late, but if Professor Taylor’s insight is anything to go by, perhaps it never really went away.
Last month, the British naval carrier, HMS Defender, was fired upon by Russian forces patrolling the Black Sea. The Defender was there (with, perhaps not coincidentally, a contingent from the BBC) for the ostensible purpose of supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Shortly thereafter, NATO held a large naval exercise in the Black Sea which was then shortly followed by a joint military exercise between the US, Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania in Western Ukraine.
Given all this activity, now might be a good time to revisit some history that is at risk of being lost and which might help lend a different perspective as to what has been unfolding in the region since the fall of communism some thirty years ago.
It is not defending Russia’s actions in 2014 to acknowledge that Putin’s motives in annexing Crimea are not hard to discern.