I love Question Time! So I’ll be publishing my follower questions from now on.

This one is from one of my Facebook followers!

Q: “Hey you sexy political bitch in her funky little kicks! Talk to me about Ukraine/Crimea/Russia. What’s going on? In simple, easy to understand language, if you don’t mind?”

– Kim S

A: Firstly, civil unrest – riots and protests against the Ukrainian [UKR] Government and President Viktor Yanukovych. Viktor was President for 4 years, and in that time, he made energy policy changes which allowed Russia to jointly operate their gas system, which was highly unfavourable to the Ukraine. In Feb 2012 Viktor said of relations with Russia: “It is not wise to fall asleep next to a big bear” — which suggests Russia is considered a dominant power in the Eurasian/Middle East continental region.

Secondly, Vladimir Putin would have been very unhappy about his puppet [someone who is easily influenced] Viktor. Russian intervention in UKR has caused a lot of discontent, and now that the UKR is in the process of rebuilding, Putin wants to try and keep his influence in the UKR [a former state of the USSR]. He has sent tank to the border to try and keep his influence, when the international community views it as a threat to UKR’s sovereignty [independent power]. So the USA is telling Putin to back off, whilst simultaneously trying to organise aid for the people of the UKR. Russia views this as the USA trying to stick their foot in the region.

Extra: The UN Security Council has to approve any use of military force, and would have to approve aid as well. It takes only one country to veto for a resolution to fail. The USA would veto Russian military action [although they have a history of illegal military action, [the USA to] the tanks in Georgia a few years ago] and Russia could veto aid.
We shall wait and see!

Hope this clears up your question Kim!

Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing!

– PIK