Originally Posted by
peter we
75% of the population in Eastern Ukraine do not want to be part of Russia or some other 'independent' state.
Could you be so kind an provide a (at least ever so slightly trust worthy) source for that claim. It seems so counter- intuitive (also looking at the fact that the pro Russian Yanukovich had been elected my a majority back in the last elections).
I'm starting to wonder how that happened with a clearly anti- Russian Western Ukraine.
Now that we learned from you that Eastern Ukraine (and crimea?) are also majority anti- Russian I'm scratching my head a bit.
While Putin clearly got carried away in this case (Why does he motivate Sweden and Finland even more to join NATO by making such implicit threats? Sometimes I'm really wondering if he started drinking or is it desperation?).
That said I have the impression some here also got carried away a bit.
Putins tactics used so far are only suitable in countries/regions with major/majority Russian population. In a completely foreign Country this wouldn't work. He would have to use massive regular Military and heavy equipment and invade directly/openly and Keep a massive Invasion force continuously in place. That is something completely different from what he did so far and it is questionable if the Russian Military is capable of doing that on a sustainable basis. Russia's conventional Military is a tiny fraction of that of the former SU. (Unlike the nuclear Arsenal. That is still massive)
What he has been doing so far was more of arsonist nature. Not so much conquerer.