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Comment by Shivetya | Hacker News Reader

While Putin has many faults blaming him for the situation that lead up to modern day Ukraine is not right. The Ukrainian people overthrew their elected government lead by Yanukovych who may or may not have sought Russia's help in protecting his government. Basically a series of dysfunctional leaders led to Yanukovych's ouster and when they could not get their affairs in order Putin took Crimea.

So while Putin's people are likely causing issues in Ukraine it is just as likely there are many people in Ukraine who did not support the revolution and seek outside support for the last legitimately elected government.

TL;DR. the people of Ukraine made a mess of it, gave Putin and opening, and still cannot sort it out. Not the news HN should be showing

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Putin took Crimea.

That's enough for me to put the blame squarely on Russia for the current situation. Whether the people who initiated the coup against Yanukovych represent the entire population, a majority or a minority, it's an internal Ukrainian affair and Russia has no business interfering.

Add the take down of the Dutch plane, the nonsense about tanks taking "relief supplies" over the border, soldiers getting "lost on vacation" and it's pretty clear that Putin is engaging in an illegal war.

And, yes, I am from the US. I don't agree with our illegal wars either so please don't go there.

You might take a look at Paul Graig Roberts articles at http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/ so that, you as an American may become more informed of what your "government" is doing to other countries

Crimea was Russian and voted to join Russia. Illegal wars are what the US wages around the world. Russians are helping the insurgents unoficially because Nuland and that scumbag US ambassador placed a Nazi Junta in power.

1. Crimea was Ukrainian from 1954 until Russia's invasion. 2. The election held after Russia invaded was neither fair nor free. Non-citizens were allowed to vote and militias coerced voting.

At the 1991 referendum, even in Crimea a majority voted for independence. I'm sure that that referendum was a lot less rigged than last year's one.

Crimea question is not obvious and straightforward at all, please stop pretending it is.

Also, why do you think Putin (personally?) took down the plane? Where is any international investigation report claiming that with a proof?

Ehhhhh, no. Yanukovych was a Putin puppet elected with Russian money that served predominantly Russian interests, hence his defiant opposition to what the populace wanted - steps to integrate with the European Union.

His government turned on its own people and cracked down on protesters, leading to the events of EuroMaidan. Putin of course would not have the European Union in his backyard. He also certainly did not want his main access to the Black Sea to be cut off, so he used the turmoil to annex Crimea, while keeping Eastern Ukraine as unstable as possible.

It's also worth noting that despite the article's assurances that these are mere misconceptions, there really was a Western power struggle surrounding the Ukrainian uprising before the Crimean affair.

As much fun it is to bring up the infamous "Fuck the EU" phone leak, there were serious efforts to pave the road for a Ukranian entry into the EU and/or NATO -- a knowing violation the silent agreement to have a post-Soviet buffer zone between the West and Russia.

The Ukrainians have no obligation to uphold any kind of "silent" agreement. If they want to join an economic organization, it is their right to do so - a sentiment they expressed through Euromaidan.

Just like Cuba had a right to be communist but the US disagreed and imposed a crushing embargo on the island. Yeah. just like that...

Two wrongs don't make a right. But Russia would never allow Ukraine to be NATO and a launching pad for a Russian invasion.

Completely agree.

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