West braces for Crimea vote to leave Ukraine

Washington did the same thing when the Confederacy tried to leave. They entered the Union of their own free will, but if they left, power would be divided. And so they were forced to stay with a gun to the head.

Well, the whites (or most of them) were. I can imagine that the blacks had a very different opinion - perhaps similar to the Tatars, who finally managed to return to their ancestral homeland after being brutally deported by Stalin.

who finally managed to return to their ancestral homeland

Key word is "ancestral". History is history. You have to make due with where you were born, or move and start fresh. Its a Russian majority in Crimea now, and we have to live in today's world.

But if you want go pee on Stalin's grave you might have to get in line.

The West and Ukraine’s upstart government in Kiev believes the region’s vote to secede is unconstitutional.

How can it be considered unconstitutional for a group of people to determine their own destiny?

But we all know that if it affects the power games of the big wigs, people don't matter to them anymore, and no amount of mental contortionalism will be too much. Washington did the same thing when the Confederacy tried to leave. They entered the Union of their own free will, but if they left, power would be divided. And so they were forced to stay with a gun to the head.

@Tom_Mix- You hit the nail right on the head. Was it not exactly what Kosovans wanted to do and Serbia was bombed for he sake of forcing it to concede in Kosovo's cessation? At least Russia is allowing the citizens from Crimea to democratically decide their own future away from a de-facto government in Ukraine. And it is not like like are forcing totallly alien people to join by force. These are ethnic Russians and nobody is pointing guns at them to choose for independence and later annexation. The so called West is working too hard in their New World Order agenda and want the whole World to conform to it.

It's kinda like South Texas deciding to secede and return to being Mexico again with its majority population ethnic Mexicans anyway.

Let's be honest. Even if the majority of Crimeans (i.e. the ethnic Russians) want to secede (quite plausible), this is not the right way to go about it. It's hard to find any legitimacy in a referendum conducted, essentially, at the point of a gun. As for those who feel compelled to bring up Kosovo, you seem to be forgetting the circumstances (i.e. a certain genocidal "ethnic cleansing" program) which compelled the West to act. There have been some who claim that the "fascists" in Kiev are intent on eliminating ethnic Russians in Crimea, but there has been no real evidence to support such allegations, which seem to be little more than thinly veiled propaganda from the pro-Russian side attempting to justify Russia's invasion.

brutally deported by Stalin.

Brutal is an understatement; upwards of 50% of them died along the way. Fewer still made it back. The ethnic Russian majority in Crimea today exists because Stalin displaced the Tatars and settled Russians in their place.

The ballot has two options:

"Are you in favour of the reunification of Crimea with Russia as a part of the Russian Federation?" or "Are you in favour of restoring the 1992 Constitution and the status of Crimea as a part of Ukraine?"

In layman's terms it means that:

'Do you want to join Russia?' or 'Do you want Crimean assembly to do that for you?'

There is now wonder that Russia is going to respect the results of the Crimea vote:-)

"Are you in favour of restoring the 1992 Constitution and the status of Crimea as a part of Ukraine?"

and stay in Ukraine

@Tom Mix, it is unconstitutional because Ukraine's constitution states that Crimea is part of the country. If all Ukrainians hold a vote to say goodbye to Crimea, then so be it. That is definitely not the vote that is taking place this weekend.

@avigator, what about the non ethnic Russian minorities in Crimea? "Nobody is pointing guns" at the people? So you are saying the Russian troops and supporting militias are not armed with guns? As McCain pointed out, Ukraine has rocks against Russia's real weapons.

Some people claim this referendum is against Ukranian and international law....

Remember folks, whatever the outcome between Russia, Crimea, and Ukraine, China is observing and will act accordingly.

Why the hell would you want to join Russia?

After having Crimea under Putin's feet, the bully Russia will start to dictate (=negotiate) with Ukraine and the West according to mother Russia's agenda. Putin should write a book on "how to annex a country for dummies", or the "tales of two realities" for best seller in the West. How about the U.N.? China did that to Tibet, and now Russia turn; for who will be next? The U.N was founded after many wars around the world to better deal with this kind of problem, right???????