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Old 9th Apr 2021, 06:27
  #47 (permalink)  
t43562
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: London
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Originally Posted by etudiant
I'd just note that the Kiev government said explicitly that they wanted to get rid of their Russian speaking minority and passed laws prohibiting Russian language teaching in the majority Russian speaking areas.
Seceding from a government that wants to get rid of you does not seem illegitimate to me.
More generally, it is dubious I think to make a big 'international law' argument, the Soviet Union shifted internal boundaries quite arbitrarily, so they are not necessarily sensible.
We've seen from the Yugoslavia experience how desperately ugly rationalizing the mess can become, even in a small patch. The Ukraine is big, a much larger mess looms.
For what it's worth I have been to Odesa and spend quite a lot of time talking to Russian-speaking Ukranians there. It's a sample-size of 2 really so not representative at all but I think it's interesting because it shows that there is another point of view. Their attitude is that Russia and Ukraine have a lot in common and that it's ridiculous that this situation should have arisen but it's Russia's fault and they should get out. They think Russian speakers in Ukraine are less and less sympathetic to Russia as this bull**** situation goes on. Both of them did military service and there's no question at all whose side they're on.

My own worthless personal opinion is that Ukraine is modernising - these guys work in the IT industry for example and lots of American companies are making good use of them. The west, meaning NATO, will experience a great reverse in it's general fortunes, its respect, the trust other nations have in it etc etc if it lets them slip into the night.
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