Putin says “Ukrainian sovereignty? Crimea river.”
Have no fears, Crimea. I am coming to save you.
It’s pretty much official at this point, Russia has invaded Ukraine and occupied the Crimean peninsula. The Russians have apparently given the Ukrainian military in Crimea a 5 am deadline to disarm or face a “military storm.” Whether this means outright war or merely a shirtless Putin roaming the Crimea like a KGB Godzilla remains to be seen. Kidding aside, the Novaya Stalin has played his hand and is waiting for the West to call or fold. There have been rumblings about economic sanctions or boycotting this June’s G8 summit in Sochi, but one has to wonder about the viability of economic warfare against the Russians. If the West tries to throttle the Russian economy, Putin can stop the flow of natural gas from the Siberian gas fields to a large swath of Europe. What happens next? I guess we find out at 10 pm eastern time, when the 5 am deadline is crossed in Crimea.
