The Absurdity of the U.S. Supporting Attacks on Crimea
A 'red line' for Putin and Russia, the Biden administration is "supporting" Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, even though they do not believe Ukraine can militarily take Crimea.
On January 18th, an interesting and insightful article was published by the New York Times titled “U.S. Warms to Helping Ukraine Target Crimea", an article that illustrated a behind-the-scenes look at the Biden administration’s position and policy regarding supporting Ukrainian attempts to militarily ‘retake’ Crimea, territory that Russia has held since 2014 when the Crimean people overwhelmingly voted to join the Russian Federation in a referendum.
According to the article, “the Biden administration has come to believe that if the Ukrainian military can show Russia that its control of Crimea can be threatened,” then that would somehow “strengthen” Ukraine’s future attempts at diplomacy and negotiations with Russia.
But don’t worry, fears that Russia would retaliate using nuclear weapons to defend its territory have “dimmed” according to the Times, citing the opinions of numerous unnamed U.S. officials and experts. Adding to the insanity, the article noted that “U.S. officials say they do not know how Mr. Putin will react if Ukraine attacks Crimea using American-supplied weapons.”
Additionally, despite the billions upon billions of dollars of aid and weaponry sent to Ukraine, the Biden administration does not even believe Ukraine has a fighting chance of taking Crimea. The article explains:
Still, despite the additional weaponry, the Biden administration does not think that Ukraine can take Crimea militarily — and indeed, there are still worries that such a move could drive Mr. Putin to retaliate with an escalatory response. But, officials said, their assessment now is that Russia needs to believe that Crimea is at risk, in part to strengthen Ukraine’s position in any future negotiations.
On February 24th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Ukraine is “preparing” to launch attacks on Crimea, Russian territory that Ukraine considers to be its territory, a position that is widely agreed upon in the West, particularly among the Biden administration. “There are military steps, and we are preparing for them. We are ready mentally. We are preparing technically: with weapons, reinforcements, the formation of brigades, in particular the assault brigades, of different categories and nature,” the Ukrainian President said regarding military operations aimed at Crimea.
A week or so beforehand, undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, called for Crimea to be “demilitarized” and declared that the U.S. is “supporting” Ukrainian attacks on Crimea: “There are mass military installations on Crimea… Those are legitimate targets. Ukraine is hitting them, and we are supporting that,” Nuland said in an interview with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
A short history and the 2014 Referendum
The Crimean Peninsula lies between the Azov Sea and the Black Sea, making it an important target for imperial regimes. For most of its history, Crimea has long been caught in the crosshairs of the world’s greatest empires and their influence, from the Greeks to the Romans to the Ottoman Empire and to Czarist Russia. Although in the past few centuries, Crimea, the majority of the time, has been under Russian control.
At the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, the Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca was signed to end the war, with the Ottoman Empire agreeing to many concessions. The treaty ceded to Russia important territories within Crimea. Among the newly acquired territories were the port of Azov, and the military fortresses of Kerch and Yenikale on the eastern end of the Crimean Peninsula. In 1783, Catherine II (the Great) annexed Crimea, hence the peninsula becoming Russian territory.
In 1954, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, gifted Crimea to Ukraine, then a Soviet Republic. (The legitimacy of that move has been debated for decades by historians.) When the Soviet Union dissipated in 1991, the territory of Crimea was passed to Ukraine, a newly independent country formed out of the USSR, although there were numerous independence movements emanating from Crimea afterward.
After a CIA-backed coup ousted the constitutionally elected President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, in February of 2014, the people of Crimea were vividly livid with the unconstitutional ousting along with the new fascistic regime in Kyiv, a regime perceived by Crimeans as not only illegitimate but also a threat to their livelihood. In response to the coup, pro-Russian forces and protesters within Crimea took matters into their own hands, occupying key government buildings, holding massive demonstrations, and electing new leaders. As a result, the Crimean Parliament voted unanimously to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
A massive referendum was held on March 16th, in which a whopping 95.5% of Crimeans voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation, a number that is not the least bit surprising when considering the fact that the vast majority of the Crimean people are pro-Russia. On March 18th, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty incorporating Crimea into the Russian Federation, respecting the wishes of the Crimean people.
The legitimacy of the referendum, though, has long been in question due to the heavy Russian troop presence and Russian influence. At the same time, it is no secret that the Crimean people have always identified with Russia, a fact that the corporate media fails to mention to its audience. Even polls conducted by U.S. government sources, like Gallup, vindicate the findings of the 2014 Crimean referendum. In one example:
A 2020 Foreign Affairs article further vindicated the true notion that Crimea stands with Russia: “Our surveys in 2014 and again in 2019 show that Crimeans were and remain mostly in favor of the Russian annexation. That popular sentiment complicates the West’s prevailing view of the seizure of Crimea as an aggressive land grab.”
Recently, NBC News traveled to Crimea to get a feel for where residents stand on the current war, speaking to and interviewing many individuals. One individual, 73-year-old Praskovya Baranova, a proud Russian, claimed, “We will all put on uniforms and will go to the border to defend ourselves” in the event of a Ukrainian attack. Her comments, according to NBC, reflected “those of most people” they spoke to in Crimea.
A dangerous escalation
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Ukraine and the collective West still disregard the results of the 2014 referendum and the wishes of the Crimean people, declaring that Crimea is still a part of Ukraine. On the other hand, it’s absurd to believe that Russia will not retaliate in an escalatory manner if Ukraine carries out its plans on Crimea, the home of its all-important Black Sea Fleet and base at Sevastopol.
Attempting to retake Crimea would be a “red line” for the Kremlin that could lead to a wider escalation of the war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently cautioned in a private Zoom call. Needless to say, the U.S. potentially supporting and arming more Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil can lead to devastating and irreparable escalations in the ongoing war, an outcome that any wise statesman would work to avoid coming to fruition.
The absurdity of the Biden administration’s position on supporting Ukrainian attempts to ‘retake’ Crimea can be summarized thus: While not believing that Ukraine can take Crimea, the administration is nonetheless supporting Ukrainian military attacks on Russian soil with American weaponry, while at the same time downplaying the very real threat of a dangerous Russian response. What could go wrong here? What could go wrong with encouraging a rapidly deteriorating Ukrainian military to retake land that Russia considers its own, and moreover, a land that wants nothing whatsoever to do with Ukraine’s rule?
The insanity is astounding.
Why does U.S. feel they need to interfere in this conflict? The people are voicing their wishes and we are not listening. It sounds like most of Ukraine wants to be a part of Russia. All we are doing is making things worse over there. Where is our tax dollars going? Does ANYONE have a clue? Our government is corrupt and run by fools!
Great article. It's hilarious to me that the official narrative is that this war is about "democracy" but then the collective west denies the results of that referendum, despite the overwhelming evidence showing it was legitimate.