DonLever Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 The head of the referendum committee in Ukraine's Crimea region says more than 95 per cent of voters have approved splitting off and joining Russia. Mikhail Malishev said the initial result came after more than 50 percent of the ballots had been counted. Russian news agency, Interfax, said voter turnout had exceeded 80 per cent. Sunday's vote was denounced by the West and the acting Ukrainian government as illegitimate. According to a statement released by the Kremlin, Russian president Vladimir Putin told U.S. president Barack Obama, in a phone call, that the Crimean referendum complies with international law. The Crimea referendum offered voters on the strategic Black Sea Peninsula the choice of seeking annexation by Russia or remaining in Ukraine with greater autonomy. "It may take up to five days to ratify the referendum," said the CBC's Susan Ormiston from Simferopol, the capital of Crimea. "They may introduce the ruble as soon as Tuesday...They have to look all kinds of national institutions like railways and water and gas infrastructures. Crimea doesn't have a lot of those.They come mostly from Ukraine, so Russia will have to negotiate deals." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Russia on Sunday to pull back its military forces and to let Ukrainians undertake reforms that would address the rights of minorities and determine how political power is to be shared, as both the U.S. and the European Union condemned the Crimean referendum taking place today. Opponents of secession appeared to largely stay away Sunday, denouncing the vote as a cynical power play/land grab by Russia. Sunday's vote is taking place several weeks after Russian-led forces took control of Crimea, a predominantly ethnic Russian region. Its residents say they fear the Ukrainian government that took over when pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted last month will oppress them. Since Yanukovych fled to Russia, Crimea has come under control of local militia forces, as well as heavily armed troops under apparent command from Moscow. Crimea's pro-Russia authorities say that if Ukrainian soldiers resolutely occupying their garrisons don't surrender after Sunday's vote, they will be considered "illegal." Meanwhile, the German government announced Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed to Putin that an international observer mission in Ukraine be expanded quickly as tensions rise in the country's east. Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said Merkel proposed quickly expanding the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) presence in Ukraine, and urged a decision at an OSCE meeting Monday on sending more observers to tense areas particularly in eastern Ukraine. He says Putin "evaluated this initiative positively Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VICanucksfan5551 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Funny how polls from before showed only 41% support and funny how the ethnic Ukranians and Tatars who make up 40% of the population suddenly supported joining Russia now. Is Russia even trying to make this look legit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonLever Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 Funny how polls from before showed only 41% support and funny how the ethnic Ukranians and Tatars who make up 40% of the population suddenly supported joining Russia now. Is Russia even trying to make this look legit? The Tartars boycotted the referendum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VICanucksfan5551 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 The Tartars boycotted the referendum. All of them? That's a full ~10-15% of the population that's vehemently opposed to joining Russia. Add the ethnic Ukrainians on top if that and the 95% figure is a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronalds.Kenins41 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Funny how polls from before showed only 41% support and funny how the ethnic Ukranians and Tatars who make up 40% of the population suddenly supported joining Russia now. Is Russia even trying to make this look legit? that's actually incorrect 90% are ethnic russians in crimea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VICanucksfan5551 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 that's actually incorrect 90% are ethnic russians in crimea 58% in the latest census. Not sure where you're getting your 90% stat fromhttp://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Crimea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jai604 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Russia isn't even trying to make this look remotely legitimate, much like they didn't even bother trying to hide the fact that they bought a gold medal or two in figure skating this past Olympics. Hilarious, and utterly fucked up at the same time. I wonder how the U.N. and the USA are going to respond because so far Putin has laughed in the face of sanctions and pretty much every other threat the rest of the world has thrown at him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtis Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 This makes no sence... why would anyone want to join russia? The country is a mess. Sure ukraine is also, but it can be fixed. Russia cant. Total bs lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 If the US is smart they'll just stay out of this.They need to worry about their own problems. They don't have the economic or diplomatic power they used to. They're not gonna win this one. Let Russia have it's little chunk of land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronalds.Kenins41 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 58% in the latest census. Not sure where you're getting your 90% stat fromhttp://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Crimea was on the news. They had some crimean offical and he said that it was 90%. I guess I will believe wikepedia over that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 All of them? That's a full ~10-15% of the population that's vehemently opposed to joining Russia. Add the ethnic Ukrainians on top if that and the 95% figure is a joke.Boycotting it meaning they didn't even vote.The 95% is people who voted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VICanucksfan5551 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 was on the news. They had some crimean offical and he said that it was 90%. I guess I will believe wikepedia over that Yeah, the Crimean government was appointed by the Russians. Not exactly an unbiased source . The number is actually likely lower than 58% because the number is over a decade old and the percentage of Russians has dropped every census since 1959 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VICanucksfan5551 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Boycotting it meaning they didn't even vote.The 95% is people who voted. Hence my "all of them?". You're not going to organize for that many people to all boycott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 was on the news. They had some crimean offical and he said that it was 90%. I guess I will believe wikepedia over that 90 percent speak Russian as a first language. That does not make them ethnically Russian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonLever Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 Interesting the comments on this CBC news item: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/crimea-election-chief-reports-95-vote-to-secede-1.2574719 You should read the comments by the viewers. The majority of people supported the result of the referendum. They were partically harsh on Harper for not recognizing the validity of the poll. Like these posts: 95% wants to leave Ukraine. Force them to go back and obey to the governement that hates them? If that's a democracy we need to change its definition in Wikipedia. Harper got my vote during the last election. But that was the last time i voted for him and Conservatives. I can't support people who stand behind ultra national extremists If the voter turn out was infact 80% then :- (a) 95% of 80% seems pretty convincing IMHO ( 80% voter turn out is far greater than anything Canada has had in my lifetime and we are supposed to live in a Democracy. © Harper and others better find another pony to ride....maybe Seals will do!! The chirpers aren't thru yet.....they will likely claim 'lefthanded people' were prevented from voting.....or......whatever.... Has the Fat Lady sung yet???? I like how these elections were supposedly illegitimate, at least according to the appointed and unelected government of Kiev and Westen media. I suppose elections in Iraq and Afghanistan after western invasions were illegitimate as well? Frankly, this Crimean referendum was probably more above board than our own previous election considering the trickery and lies our good Tory friends tried to play. One reason the percentage was so high is that instead of voting to remain within the Ukraine, the people who opposed the move to join Russia merely abstained from voting. They didn't even choose to spoil their ballots don’t buy our mainstream media’s concern with the wellbeing of Tatars. All Tatars speak Russian. They don’t speak Ukrainian. Their pensions and pay will at least double just for joining Russia. They will escape the IMF’s harsh austerity measures and have a safer and more prosperous future for their children. This of course doesn’t help the US/UE’s banksters who own/control our media outlets. CBC never ever writes about the Ukrainian working class, their poor/unemployed (lots of those) and the type of exploitation/slavery that awaits them. Tatars will be just fine and those Tatars who know what’s going on in Greece are more than happier to have escaped the wrath of IMF. Since billionaires run our world and create/shape our reality I am not surprised that they are not concerned with the rights of the working class around the word, family values and the future of anybody’s children but theirs. It’s all about how banks and corporations are doing. How much more profit could they make and who should we bomb/hate next just so the banksters could get richer and more powerful Time for Harper to get out and give his full attention to Canada. Would we like other countries coming here whenever Quebec talks about separation? Canada has areas that could use the money he is wasting on support for this issue Congratulations! May the rest of Ukraine follow. Kerry, McCain, Nuland, did you see peaceful democracy in action? Why don't you try it in the US? Same goes for Harper/CONs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Well Crimea is important to Russia and they found that with the US busy in other areas and Europe in economic hardship they had the leverage to make this work. Putin is part old school KGB and part Russian mobster. He knows how to work the angles and take advantage when opponents are weak. There is a large amount of pro Russian sentiment in Crimea and the voting numbers were so lopsided that even if some people didnt vote it was still the will of the people to rejoin Russia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drummer4now Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I am surprised Russia is revealing so many flaws. I was watching RT and they had two so called international observers with no credentials or apparent ids. They just seemed like random foreigners paid to say the vote is legit.. But one thing is clear its not like the West hasn't done this sort of thing in the past. Lets look at Kosovo for example or the justification for the war in Iraq with no UN support. Basically all this is a global chess game for each regions political interests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonLever Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 The whole situation of Crimea leaving Ukraine would not happen if those protestors outside the Ukraine Parliament did not overthrow the ELECTED leader of Ukraine. Reap what they sow. That goes for the Western leaders that supported the rebels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drummer4now Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 The whole situation of Crimea leaving Ukraine would not happen if those protestors outside the Ukraine Parliament did not overthrow the ELECTED leader of Ukraine. Reap what they sow. That goes for the Western leaders that supported the rebels. Agreed. They basically traded Crimea for political freedom. Who knows what the political situation would have been like if they waited for the scheduled elections next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsedin33 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 "95%" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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