Mar 26, 2014

Think about a referendum in Crimea


96.77 % people chose to support absorption into Russia after a referendum in Crimea.  When I heard the news, I thought that it should be all right if the people indeed desired to be one of the Russian countries as the majority of people speak the Russian language. However, I had a sense of discomfort with the actions of the Ukraine, Russia, the US and the EU and I looked into the Crimea situation to increase my knowledge.


Crimea is located in the southern Ukraine on the Black Sea and the majority of people speak  the Russian language. 58% of Russians, 24% of Ukrainians, and about 12% of Crimean Tatals stay in this area. Crimea has a terrible history, but now the racial conflicts have died down. They tolerate the diversity of racial or religious cultural groups and those ethnic groups maintain good corporation. However, politicians in the Ukraine are hopelessly corrupt and the economy of Crimea is not healthy as the Ukraine government doesn't care about the region, therefore, the people in Crimea are eager for having fair and equitable politics and for promoting economic growth. At first, this referendum is for choosing "independence from the Ukraine or not", but inconspicuously, this changed to "absorption into Russia or not". After this referendum, Russia intervened in the Crimea in order to protect the Russian Crimeans. Russian President Putin insisted that Crimea choose Russia and Russia has a responsibility to protect the Russian Crimeans who live in this region. However, the real aim of President Putin seems to be to protect a Black Sea fleet and natural resources around the Black Sea, which is an important area for Russia.


In reality, Crimea depends on the Ukraine for the water service and electricity. It might be difficult to keep the supply if Russia forces its economic power on the Ukraine. According to some articles, the people in Crimea really seek fair politics and economic growth and they seem not to agree with belonging to Russia. Moreover, the result of the referendum won't be able to be reliable. The Crimean Tatals boycotted the vote and also the people who are against belonging to Russia didn't go to vote. The figure of 96.77% makes it hard to think that the vote was held democratically and that cannot be logical as around 40% of people are not Russian.


After looking into the Crimea situation, I've felt that there is a political calculation between the Ukraine, Russia, the US and the EU, and it will be difficult to solve problems sooner. However, I really hope that this matter will be solved peacefully .



References;

http://synodos.jp/international/7603/4
http://www.seojapan.com/blog/ukraine
http://synodos.jp/international/7337





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