typette:

backstory: in the 20s, the Holodomor happened: Lenin’s Bolsheviks engineered a massive starvation event that killed nearly 10 million people in Russia and Ukraine. They did this by killing those who supplied food: farmers, mill workers, etc and salting their fields/killing their livestock/burning their mills. and painted them as “tight-fisted” kulaks, who  ”exploited” everyone and had to be neutralized. As such, tons of people perished, literally, in the streets. You think the Donner party was bad? This was worse. Instead of rounding people up and gassing/shooting them, they just let them starve to death slowly. The worst of it was suffered by Ukranians. Before it broke off into it’s own sovereign country, they were given a little island called Crimea, which it kept after it became it’s own country. 

Ukraine is divided up pretty starkly into east and west. West Ukraine wants to be a part of the EU, with all the benefits that implies- mostly, a tighter hand against governmental corruption, which Ukraine sadly suffers badly from. The other half, Eastern Ukraine, is very much still ethnically Russian, and Crimea falls under this. 

Fast forward to November last year:  Viktor Yanukovich was elected President of Ukraine by the majority of voters, many of which are Eastern Ukranians. Ukraine nearly joined the EU, they got so close to achieving their dream, but this Russian puppet  Yanukovich cockblocked their efforts to do so, obviously spurred on by Putin. Ukranians, fucking fed up with this, rioted, thus: the “Euromaidan”. 

It isn’t just against Yanukovich they’re rioting, but just the horrible unsafe corrupt shittiness their country has become. The entire place is, no offence, a massive craphole like Russia is right now. It’s what happens when libertarian capitalism goes unchecked: Everyone’s free to be corrupt as hell, and there’s nobody to stop them. Yanukovich was ousted, and as of this second, there are unverified reports he has either been assassinated or he had a heart attack, but these are unfounded.

Right now: information has come out that Yanukovich asked Russia to make a grab for Crimea, which is a very strategic location because there’s a Russian military base already right there. There are Russians, rumouredly unmarked ones, storming borders and holding patrol officers at gunpoint. That’s a violation of the Geneva code and that’s not good. They’re already occupying Crimea- they’re shutting off power and water to non-military-base areas there and as of this afternoon, Russia has given Ukraine an ultimatum: 

Either surrender by 7pm PST(Vancouver/LA time) tomorrow or Russia will invade to ‘secure the safety’ of what they refer to as Russians- the Eastern Ukranians.

Poland and Lithuania are collectively pinching their sphincters in terror because you know what fuckin’ happened last time. NATO, who allies with Ukraine, have all said if shit happens they’ll be there to ‘protect Ukrane’s sovereignty’. the G7 as it is right now have suspended trade and discussions with Russia, using the only peaceful “okay seriously?? stop.” tactic they really have right now. The EU has just responded that if Russia doesn’t pull out of Crimea by 7pm tomorrow, well… I think both sides are avoiding saying the “w” word, because that in itself is a threat nobody wants to be the first to say.

The worst case scenario: War. 😦 especially if the rumours about Yanukovich wind up to to be true. We’ll see.

The best case scenario: Russia will end up annexing Ukraine/Crimea, Euromaidan ends peacefully and Ukraine can democratically go about solving the split issue. This is what people are hoping for and are saying is the likeliest scenario.

80s movie fantasy scenario:

stay tuned.

One more very cool/creepy thing of note: the spy number station UVB-76, which is located in Russia and has broadcast a steady tone since the 1970s, has suddenly and without explanation, changed to this. link goes to youtube video of recording. Theories suggest it is a dead-man switch, wherein the event that UVB-76 ever stops broadcasting, the location will have been destroyed, and will trigger an automatic retaliation strike by Russia. That’s just a theory tho. Sleep tight!!