Enough. Enough. Enough enough FUCKING ENOUGH.

[Demeter]

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I'll show you mine:

Crimean status referendum, 2014
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crimean status referendum, 2014 was a referendum on the status of Crimea held on March 16, 2014, by the legislature of Autonomous Republic of Crimea as well as by the local government of Sevastopol, both subdivisions of Ukraine at the time. The referendum asked the people of Crimea whether they wanted to join Russia as a federal subject, or if they wanted to restore the 1992 Crimean constitution and Crimea's status as a part of Ukraine.

The available choices did not include keeping the status quo of Crimea and Sevastopol as they were at the time the referendum was held. The 1992 constitution accords greater powers to the Crimean parliament including full sovereign powers to establish relations with other states, therefore many commentators argued that both provided referendum choices would result in de facto separation from Ukraine.

The Supreme Council of Crimea considered the ousting of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution as a coup and the new interim government in Kiev as illegitimate and stated that the referendum is a response to these developments. The final date and ballot choices were set only ten days before the plebiscite was held. The referendum was regarded as illegitimate by most countries including all European Union members, the United States and Canada because of the events surrounding it including the plebiscite being held while the peninsula was occupied by Russian soldiers. Thirteen members of the United Nations Security Council voted in favor of a resolution declaring the referendum invalid, but Russia vetoed it and China abstained. A United Nations General Assembly resolution was later adopted, by a vote of 100 in favor vs. 11 against with 58 abstentions, which declared the referendum invalid and affirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People called for a boycott of the referendum.

Russia officially recognized the results of the Crimean referendum and claims that unilateral Kosovo declaration of independence has set a precedent, which allows secession of Crimea from Ukraine. Such parallels are disputed by legal scholars, however.

The official result from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was a 96.77 percent vote for integration of the region into the Russian Federation with an 83.1 percent voter turnout. The Mejlis Deputy Chairman Akhtem Chiygoz stated that the actual turnout could not have exceeded 30–40 percent. In an interview on 22 January 2015 Igor Strelkov admitted that his militia group coerced Crimean deputies to vote in favor of secession from Ukraine.

Following the referendum, The Supreme Council of Crimea and Sevastopol City Council declared independence of Crimea from Ukraine and requested to join the Russian Federation. On the same day, Russia recognized Crimea as a sovereign state.

It's one of those "fair and balanced" accounts....with lots of kibitzing from people who don't have to live with the results, but wish to ingratiate themselves with the US State Dept. (or avoid similar foreign-ignited uprisings as afflicted Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and other victims of American "regime-changing" imperialism).

I offer the following proofs that it was in fact a free and popular referendum that passed overwhelmingly:

1. No fighting, no bombing, no terrorism
2. No disorderly mass flights of refugees*
3. No reports of starvation, disease, or other hardship
4. The intense and publicly-stated desire of Donbass and other eastern regions to join Crimea. Russia has declined to admit them to its Federation.

*AFTER annexing Crimea, Russia has given residents of the peninsula one month to opt out of Russian citizenship. Thousands of them, predominantly Ukrainian speakers and Crimean Tatars, who make up about 12% of the local population, are leaving. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the prime minister of Ukraine, has said that the rest of Ukraine can accommodate 23,000 Crimeans and the government has set up a hotline for locals hoping to leave the peninsula.

Many of those leaving Crimea are seeking refuge in the west of Ukraine. Over 2,000 have already contacted the regional authorities in Lviv, a town in western Ukraine, about temporary residence. They arrive by car or on the daily train from Simferopol, which takes about 24 hours. Some have gone further afield. Last week, a group of 32 people from Yevpatoria, on the western coast of Crimea, crossed the Ukrainian border with Poland and applied for asylum.

Let's see if we can find anything to support YOUR propaganda:

Crimean crisis


During the Crimean crisis from 23 February through 19 March 2014, six people were killed. The dead included: three protesters (two pro-Russian and one pro-Ukrainian), two soldiers and one Crimean SDF trooper. The two Ukrainian soldiers who were killed are regularly included in the military death toll from the War in Donbass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Ukrainian_crisis

So much for your "killed by Putin" garbage.