VLAD THE BAD STEALS A MARCH ON THE WEST
Soviet leader Josef Stalin used to shrug off critics by his favorite Central Asian saying: The dogs bark; the caravan moves on.
Russias hard-eyed president, Vladimir Putin, is following the same strategy over Ukraine and Crimea.
Putin swiftly moved his knight into the empty chess square of Crimea, thereby regaining full control of one of Russias four strategic port regions: Sevastopol, Murmansk, St Petersburg and Vladivostok.
Sevastopol, now firmly in Moscows hands, is Russias sole gateway to the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and Mideast. The vast, co-shared Russian-Ukrainian Sevastopol naval base was a shaky, awkward arrangement doomed to eventual failure.
Semi-autonomous Crimea, over 60% ethnic Russian, will hold a referendum on 16 March to decide to remain in Ukraine or rejoin Russia. A referendum is clearly the answer to the whole Ukraine-Russia problem.
http://ericmargolis.com/2014/03/vlad-the-bad-steals-a-march-on-the-west/