Crimea Vote: 83% of Eligible Voters. Salaries & Pensions (SS) to Double. Retirement Age Drops:

[grahamhgreen]

The Hindu (the third most widely-read English newspaper in India) Reports:

Nearly 97 per cent of voters said “yes” to revert to Russia, from which Crimea had been separated when the Soviet Union broke up just over 20 years ago. A mere 2.5 per cent voted in favour of staying with Ukraine....

The turnout was a record-breaking 83 per cent of Crimea’s 1.5 million eligible voters. With ethnic Russians constituting 58 per cent of the region’s population, the vote results indicate that many ethnic Ukrainians, who account for nearly a quarter of Crimeans, voted for reunification with Russia. The Medjlis of Crimean Tatars said 95 per cent of its followers boycotted the vote. Crimean Tatars, who make up about 12 per cent of Crimea’s population, still smart from painful memories of their deportation by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin during World War Two....

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will address a joint session of the Russian Parliament on Tuesday in connection with the Crimean referendum. The process of Crimea’s accession may take two to three months, according to experts. Crimean authorities said the region will begin replacing Ukrainian hryvnia with the Russian rouble within the next two weeks.

The Russian government has promised to raise the salaries and pensions for Crimean residents to the average Russian level, which is two to three times higher.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/crimea-breaks-away-from-ukraine-asks-to-rejoin-russia/article5795696.ece

Washington Post reports this:

For example, the average monthly pension in Russia is said to be about $270, almost double the $150 paid in the average Ukrainian’s monthly pension. And the retirement age will drop by five years, to 60 for men and 55 for women.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/how-will-things-change-in-crimea-if-it-joins-russia/2014/03/14/f76a6208-ab07-11e3-adbc-888c8010c799_story.html

The Star Reports:

Many Russian-speakers voted for the union because they had hopes of seeing their meagre pensions raised and Soviet-style housing and medical benefits restored.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/03/16/cheers_and_jeers_greet_crimeas_vote_for_russia.html

[former9thward]

1. No, we are told that Yes votes were all part of Putin ballot stuffing.

And the Russian troops with guns to the heads' of the voters. Everyone really wanted to remain in the total poverty and basket case economy which Ukraine has.

[grahamhgreen]

2. I know. 83% of eligible voters is a pretty big margin, and with the benefits, why wouldn't they vote

in favor of that instead of austerity?

[go west young man]

38. They are now also entitled to

the $9,200 second child benefit Russia offers and child care subsidized up to $150 a month. It's huge for them.

[Catherina]

6. A paper ballot dropped by hand into transparent ballot boxes. No wonder we're pissed

Paper ballots in transparent boxes watched by the citizenry


A woman holds a Russian flag as she casts her ballot in one of the polling stations in Sevastopol, Ukraine, on Sunday.(Photo: Vasiliy Batanov, AFP/Getty Images)

No wonder we're so pissed in Diebold-land where people are hard at work trying to cut our social security, privatize our schools, cut social safety nets... Gasp! All those cuts the Crimeans voted against.

[2banon]

11. omg, i didn't see your post Catherina.. This IS what WE need !

oops...

I'll look for that other article with an image showing the boxes lined up and see content!

[Catherina]

13. I'd love to see those. Here are a few more. I watched the voting on video

as well as the comments from EU Parliamentarians who went to observe and said the process was flawless.

[2banon]

14. Those are excellent.. I can't find the one I saw in an article, but these speak volumes!

This is exactly how we should set our balloting up. Talk about transparency! Kind of hard to say miss-judge a likely outcome..

[2banon]

15. You watched this process on line? Wow!

[Catherina]

29. As much of it as I could. Interviews with international observers (135 observers from 23 countries)

The interviews with the international observers (135 observers from 23 countries) were the best part. Scratch that. The happy faces of the voters, many of them showing up with their entire families including young children, was the best part.

They're moving fast now, the independent government of Crimea has an announcement on its website that it's already made a proposal to Russia to admit them into the Russian Federation as a republic.

[2banon]

34. things are moving quickly

that's excellent news. I'm a bit concerned with the saber rattling and chest thumping out of Kiev. Hoping it's all hot air and this ends peacefully. xing fingers.

[ProSense]

12. "reports indicate that several ballots were 'pre-marked'”

<...>

European Union foreign ministers joined the U.S. on Monday in issuing its own set of sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials. The full list from Europe will include 21 individuals, which includes some overlap with the American list, and be released to the public on Tuesday, the adminstration officials told the press.

A third senior administration official pointed to the many irregularities in the Crimean vote as a sign of its illegitimacy. While the ballots only offered a choice of either joining Russia or becoming more independent from Ukraine, reports indicate that several ballots were “pre-marked,” according to the official. And according to a comparison of the most recent census data from Sevastapol and polling data, 123 percent of the city’s population voted on Sunday. In addition, 99 percent of the region’s Tatars ethnic minority declined to vote, boycotting what they said was a sham poll.

Also troubling is that no recognized international election monitors took part in the referendum. Russian-sponsored media touted the participation of several invited observers — including one who went on a lengthy diatribe against American involvement in Crimea — but none accredited with the Organisaton for Security and Cooperation in Europe or the United Nations. Tellingly, Crimean officials have declared that there were zero incidents of fraud or difficulties in voting reported to their electoral commission.

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/03/17/3411201/crimea-votes-response/

If Putin wanted this to be on the up and up, he wouldn't have shut out election observers.

[go west young man]

37. Says the guys who's own elections

are conducted completely out of sight in the digital spyosphere, where computers crash late at night and candidates brothers appointees get to decide which votes are counted.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

3. Interesting

Thanks for posting.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Everybody is outraged at the "Russian invasion" of Crimea...except the Crimeans.

Hmmm...

[grahamhgreen]

5. Yes, looks like there were a lot of benefits to reunion. OTOH, austerity if they stayed with Ukraine

[2banon]

16. I know.. some of the threads around here actually flipping out over the "invasion!" n/t

[840high]

32. Yes. Wish we'd butt out of there.

[Catherina]

7. How did I miss this? Highly rec'd

Ukraine used to have the same retirement ages as Russia, thanks to the IMF people will have to work longer for less. Sound familiar?

The Crimeans aren't dumb, they're not going to hitch their lives to the West's new plantation. They saw what happened to Greece and all the other countries whose crooked politicians sold them off to the IMF.

[OilemFirchen]

8. Excellent!

By the end of the year, a wheelbarrow of rubles will buy two loaves of bread.

[Fumesucker]

17. Hope springs eternal in the human heart

I know you'll be horribly disappointed if the Crimeans get a decent retirement.

[OilemFirchen]

19. You make your bed...

Bed, ha ha! Remember when you had HOUSE?

[Fumesucker]

20. Oh, you mean like this?

[OilemFirchen]

22. More like this:

But while income inequality in this country may be growing, the U.S. has nothing on Russia, according to a new report by investment bank Credit Suisse.

Russia, the bank says, has the highest rate of inequality in the world – barring some small Caribbean islands.

Just how bad is it? Thirty-five percent of household wealth in the country is in the hands of 110 people (Yes, that's right — 110.).

There's more: There's one Russian billionaire for every $11 billion in household wealth in the country. Worldwide, that number is one for every $170 billion in household wealth.

If You Think Wealth Disparity Is Bad Here, Look At Russia

[grahamhgreen]

26. That's nothing!!! 6 Walmart Heirs Hold More Wealth Than 42% of Americans Combined!!!!

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/walmart-heirs-waltons-wealth-income-inequality

[sabrina 1]

47. Stunning, isn't it? And we are worried about other people's economic issues?

Wait til the IMF gets busy in Ukraine. All we have to do is look at what they are doing to the rest of Europe.

[Enthusiast]

40. That's a thing of beauty, Fumesucker.

[n2doc]

9. What a bunch of Takers n/t

[2banon]

10. And they used Paper Ballots, dropped into Transparent Containers (acrylic?)

If i can find the article with the image, I'll post it here. I was really impressed with the ballot sizes and those containers. So glad they didn't do electronic.

[stevenleser]

18. You're actually trying to justify an anschluss type situation with social programs?

Fascinating.

[ProSense]

23. Actually, it's

"You're actually trying to justify an anschluss type situation with social programs?"

...justifying it by comparing two different economies and cost of livings. This is interesting:

Will everyone get Russian passports?

Though details are still being ironed out, it is believed that all native Russian speakers — most people in the Crimea area — will be eligible for Russian passports. People whose choose to keep their Ukrainian passports won’t be forced to leave, but they won’t be able to vote in elections.

Permanent vote rigging.

[grahamhgreen]

25. What that quote says is if they CHOOSE to keep thier Ukrainian passport, they can not vote.

[ProSense]

27. What about the people who boycotted the vote, those who oppose it? n/t

[grahamhgreen]

28. OMG, it's called democracy. They lose.

[ProSense]

30. No

"OMG, it's called democracy. They lose."

...it's called invading a country, voting by gunpoint and without the presence of election observers.

Putin was not interested in "democracy."

Hey, but illegal invasions are now equal to "democracy." Isn't that the Bush doctrine?

[840high]

33. I think you're unhappy that

they might be happy.

[grahamhgreen]

35. In my view, the US fostered a coup in the Ukraine and ousted an elected leader. That's the neo-con

doctrine.

[magical thyme]

41. there were election observers, both physically present and watching on video

They weren't "official" election observers. But the elections were observed.

Nobody forced the Crimean people to vote at gunpoint. Nobody forced them to vote a particular way at gunpoint. And the ballots are clearly seen being dropped into the bins.

Unlike here, with voter suppression where people are deliberately prevented from voting, electronic hackable votes with no paper backup, paper ballots with truckloads disappearing, etc. Oh, and no "official" election observers here, though. None needed because we're #1. Rah.

Why is it so hard to believe that people looked at the IMF/austerity program that has destroyed the economies and lives of so many people, and decided to go with a program that would instead improve their lives?

[grahamhgreen]

24. I wouldn't characterize it as that, more like voting to increase retirement age like the Republicans

or lower it like the progressives want to.

In my view this whole thing reeks of a US inspired coup in order to seize control of the gas and gas pipelines, while shoving austerity down the throats of the people.

[sabrina 1]

48. The people voted. Are you saying they have no right to determine their own future? And here I

thought that is ALL we cared about!

Wait until the IMF takes control of yet another poor nation. I wouldn't wish that an my worst enemy. Having friends in what once were first world nations, in Europe, my advice to anyone whose country is facing their 'Austerity' programs, 'don't do it'. Follow Iceland's example.

[LittleBlue]

21. Basically the Crimea vote reflects the will of the majority of Crimeans

I wouldn't be surprised if over 75% of Crimeans did actually want to join Russia. Who would turn down such a sweet deal? Ukraine was an impoverished basket case before this happened, now it's even more of a mess.

[Catherina]

31. +1. They never even wanted to be part of Ukraine either

The MSM reported that 99% of the residents of the Falkland Islands voted to remain with the UK instead of Argentina. Somehow no one disputes that figure but for Crimea, some people are bending over backwards to convince the world there can't possibly be a similar case in Crimea and that, with Diebold voting, they're sure the majority of Crimea would have willingly subjected themselves to that IMF Austerity disaster.

[Nye Bevan]

36. "The Anschluss was given immediate effect, subject to ratification by a plebiscite".

Hitler's car crossed the border in the afternoon at Braunau, his birthplace. In the evening, he arrived at Linz and was given an enthusiastic welcome. The enthusiasm displayed toward Hitler and the Germans surprised both Nazis and non-Nazis, as most people had believed that a majority of Austrians opposed Anschluss. Hitler had intended to Nazify Austria and make it a close ally to Germany, but now he decided to formally absorb the country as a German province. On 13 March Seyss-Inquart announced the revoking of Article 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which prohibited the unification of Austria and Germany, and approved the replacement of the Austrian states with Reichsgau.

.......

The Anschluss was given immediate effect by legislative act on 13 March, subject to ratification by a plebiscite. Austria became the province of Ostmark, and Seyss-Inquart was appointed governor. The plebiscite was held on 10 April and officially recorded a support of 99.7% of the voters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss

Another example of democracy in action.

[grahamhgreen]

39. But you agree that lowering the retirement age, doubling pensions, and increasing salaries, while

preventing the privatization of the Crimean Commons is a good thing?

Or at least must agree that some people would see that as a positive... In this case the vast majority?

[cali]

43. that's actually not a good comparison for any number of reasons.

[cali]

42. Crimea was effectively separated from Russia (and that's what counts)

60 years ago.

[KoKo]

44. Recommend!

:kick:

[CFLDem]

45. Sounds like Crimea

is in the honeymoon phase of the abuse cycle.

[Autumn]

46. Yeah I sure would vote for that stuff here in the good old USA.

Lower the retirement age ? You bet

[librechik]

49. bribing the population with a guaranteed living wage? How dare he!

I wish the US could get that kind of option. Would I vote for a Republican who guaranteed to repair and improve the social safety net for all Americans? Where do I sign?

[woo me with science]

50. kick

[Democracyinkind]

51. If you happen to speak German...

http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/asien-und-ozeanien/Sotschi-war-ein-Klacks-dagegen/story/30024787

This article from 03/17 makes pretty much the same point, giving more numbers, especially concerning future Russian investment. If I remember correctly it also compares those numbers to what Ukrainians have to expect now that Austerites have taken over.

This does add a valuable perspective on why many people might have generally preferred joining the Russian Federation. "Zuerst kommt das Fressen, und dann die Moral", as Brecht said, which is basically an artistic restatement of Maslowian social theory.

[cherokeeprogressive]

52. Did you forget the part about conscription for young Crimean men?