93% of Crimea Votes to Join Russia

[bhikkhu]

60. I care about Crimea being allowed to freely chose its own fate

but. from what I have seen, that's what happened. The russians were certainly heavy-handed about seeing that it was done, but we have been guilty of the same in every similar situation I can think of.

Analogies aren't as important as the result, which is that the majority of people in Crimea chose to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia. In other circumstances, from everything I have read and heard about it, the same choice would be made over and over again. I hope the whole thing ramps down peacefully. There are so many other regions where populations are "held" more or less against their will, and a general solution or a model for resolving such things is really lacking. The sacred aspect of old borders and sovereignty really doesn't settle things like it used to - we need a new model.