Ukraine's European Revolution?

[Tonitrus]

Maybe he's calculating that after several months of Crimea=Russian being a forgone conclusion, the news cycle will have moved on (the Malaysian airliner has done a fair job of that for now)...Ukrainian cries that "Crimea=Ukraine" will either die down or become boring...and political reality will move on.

In the long run, Russia will have gained Crimea...relations with Ukraine might be permanently soured, but will probably eventually normalize with most of the West. 

Only invading the eastern regions of Ukraine are likely to make the situation intolerable to the West in the long term.

[KRonn]

So far the results are that 95% of the voters are for joining Russia.  I have to say that I may have been wrong about the whole thing, it sounds like Crimeans really, really want to join Russia.

Do we have any idea how fair and accurate those stats are? Given that the nation is occupied by Russian troops and other militia, who is doing the counting of ballots? This sounds like one of those Presidential elections in a dictatorship where nearly 100% "vote" for the dictator.

[Tonitrus]

Hell, even Putin was smart enough to only get 63%.

[Liep]

Reports from journalists on Crimea indicates that it is a possible number, given that the boxes containing the votes were clear they could observe that all the votes were to join Russia.

[Valmy]

Hell we couldn't get 95% of the American voters to approve staying in the USA.

[Liep]

If only those who wanted to stay in America voted you could.

[Tamas]

So far the results are that 95% of the voters are for joining Russia.  I have to say that I may have been wrong about the whole thing, it sounds like Crimeans really, really want to join Russia.

Do we have any idea how fair and accurate those stats are? Given that the nation is occupied by Russian troops and other militia, who is doing the counting of ballots? This sounds like one of those Presidential elections in a dictatorship where nearly 100% "vote" for the dictator.

Well, people were very enthusiastic indeed, with a 123% turnout according to official statistics!

385,462ppl registered in #Sevastopol due to statistics & 474,137ppl voted yesterday,which means123%votes |PR #Crimea

[Maximus]

Reports from journalists on Crimea indicates that it is a possible number, given that the boxes containing the votes were clear they could observe that all the votes were to join Russia.

also reports that there were "election officials" going door to door asking people why they didn't vote and pushing a ballot in front of them.

[derspiess]

Reports from journalists on Crimea indicates that it is a possible number, given that the boxes containing the votes were clear they could observe that all the votes were to join Russia.

also reports that there were "election officials" going door to door asking people why they didn't vote and pushing a ballot in front of them.

In Soviet Crimea, ballot votes you!

[Valmy]

If only those who wanted to stay in America voted you could.

Nah about 10% of those would accidentally vote for Pat Buchanan instead.

[Agelastus]

So far the results are that 95% of the voters are for joining Russia.  I have to say that I may have been wrong about the whole thing, it sounds like Crimeans really, really want to join Russia.

Do we have any idea how fair and accurate those stats are? Given that the nation is occupied by Russian troops and other militia, who is doing the counting of ballots? This sounds like one of those Presidential elections in a dictatorship where nearly 100% "vote" for the dictator.

Well, people were very enthusiastic indeed, with a 123% turnout according to official statistics!

385,462ppl registered in #Sevastopol due to statistics & 474,137ppl voted yesterday,which means123%votes |PR #Crimea

Most reports I've seen say a voter turnout of between 70 and 80% - which given the boycott by various groups pretty much explains the massively high pro-Russian vote percentage.

What's the full translation of those statistics?

[Malthus]

So far the results are that 95% of the voters are for joining Russia.  I have to say that I may have been wrong about the whole thing, it sounds like Crimeans really, really want to join Russia.

Do we have any idea how fair and accurate those stats are? Given that the nation is occupied by Russian troops and other militia, who is doing the counting of ballots? This sounds like one of those Presidential elections in a dictatorship where nearly 100% "vote" for the dictator.

Well, people were very enthusiastic indeed, with a 123% turnout according to official statistics!

385,462ppl registered in #Sevastopol due to statistics & 474,137ppl voted yesterday,which means123%votes |PR #Crimea

Can you post a link for that? Thanks.

[alfred russel]

Maybe he's calculating that after several months of Crimea=Russian being a forgone conclusion, the news cycle will have moved on (the Malaysian airliner has done a fair job of that for now)...Ukrainian cries that "Crimea=Ukraine" will either die down or become boring...and political reality will move on.

In the long run, Russia will have gained Crimea...relations with Ukraine might be permanently soured, but will probably eventually normalize with most of the West. 

Only invading the eastern regions of Ukraine are likely to make the situation intolerable to the West in the long term.

I think you are right, but I'm not sure about the last sentence.

At the beginning, I thought Putin grabbing Crimea would be stupid because the electoral impact of grabbing a small pro Russian part of a 50-50 country would mean that you are still left with a big Ukraine that is now slanted toward the west. But now that I look at how things have developed, you have a sizeable Russian minority in Ukraine that is going to give Russia endless pretexts to intervene.

[derspiess]

Nah about 10% of those would accidentally vote for Pat Buchanan instead.

Just imagine what it was like for the most vulnerable residents of Palm Beach.  This is Esther Rosenthal. Esther Rosenthal is age 92, a Democrat all her life.. Esther left her nursing home Tuesday morning intending to vote for me! Totally bewildered by this ballot, she ended up voting for the Libertarian candidate, and switching her long-distance service to Sprint.  Okay.. Sidney and Reesa Mandel, age 87 and 85, ate their ballot!  While Rachel Goldensten, age 96, mailed hers to Barbra Streisand.

[derspiess]

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/world/article/NATO-pledges-close-cooperation-with-Ukraine-5323555.php

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO has vowed to intensify cooperation with Ukraine after residents in the Crimea peninsula voted overwhelmingly to secede and try to join Russia.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya visited NATO headquarters Monday with a request list for technical equipment that Ukraine's government needs to deal with the secession of Crimea and the Russian incursion there. It was not immediately clear what equipment Ukraine was asking for.

NATO said in a statement the alliance was determined to boost cooperation, including the "increased ties with Ukraine's political and military leadership, strengthening efforts to build the capacity of the Ukrainian military and more joint training and exercises."

Deshchytsya said in talks with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen he "discussed our possible cooperation in the field of sending monitors to Ukraine."