The Russians have now poured over 16,000 soldiers into the Crimea (a province of Ukraine). It's starting to look like they are going to use the political crisis in Ukraine as an excuse to expand their own territory. They have told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that they only entered the Crimea as the request of Viktor Yanukovych, saying he had told them the country was in "chaos and anarchy" and "on the brink of civil war".That's a rather lame excuse. Yanukovych was not overthrown by a civil war, but legally removed by the Unkranian parliament. And if they were really trying to prevent civil war in Ukraine, then why have they only sent troops to the Crimea? Other parts of Ukraine were experiencing more unrest that the Crimea. This is not an attempt to "help" Ukraine, but a territorial grab by Russia. I think U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power put it well when she said:
"Russian military action is not a human rights protection mission. It is a violation of international law."
President Obama has said the United States will take some diplomatic (including economic) measures against Russia, and other Western nations are doing the same. Canada has even withdrawn its ambassador from Moscow. Unfortunately, it looks like the President will have to act without the full support of the American people. And that's a shame, since we cannot allow Russia to resume its old expansionist ways.
The chart above shows this unfortunate view of the American public. It is from a survey taken by the Rasmussen Poll on February 28th and March 1st of 1,000 likely voters nationwide (and has a margin of error of 3 points). Note that only 37% support diplomatic action against Russia, while 36% oppose that. Another 27% don't know what should be done.
