No subject

[Olga Meerson]

Re:
The Evpatoria that's in Crimea? If so, we should note: Crimea is part of Ukraine, the presence of the Russian fleet notwithstanding.


Yea, sure, and it has, "of course" been always inalienably Ukrainian--the native Tatars, Greeks, the Qaraim, etc. notwithstanding! Come on, Martha! It does matter then HOW Crimea became part of Ukraine. The way has a lot to do with Russian, and then Soviet imperial policies! It may be more factually correct now to claim that Crimea is listed as part of Ukraine, but is that something for Ukrainians to be proud of, as a testimony of their independence from Russia? There was a person who not only learned about the history of the region, and of its Tatars' persecution. He was Ukrainian; his name was General Petro Grigorenko. He NEVER considered it honorable that the territory could be claimed by Ukrainians--no more than that it should be claimed by Russians. As for the Russian Black Sea fleet, it does have a history of presence in the Crimea, far preceding the Soviet Union, or the so-called new, Soviet russian domination in the area. Catherine was no angel but the fleet was hers!
 , !
not that of Ukrainians. The way she dealt with the Zaporozhye cossacks was pretty authoritarian and nothing to be proud of, but this has nothing to do with any rights for Ukraine to dominate over the Crimean peninsula itself. The territory and its history and multinational culture is no more Ukrainian than it is Russian. Perhaps no less. But why pretend that Ukrainians have more of a right here? Just because they inherited this right from the Russian Empire--either pre- or post-Soviet? This may be correct, but in that case, there should be no moral ground to object to the presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet there. Like General Grigorenko, I in no way support any Russian imperial ambitions but neither would I support anyone's attempts to replace these ambitions with their own.

In any case, I am not an historian, but there is some info on the matter here:
http://www.blacksea-crimea.com/history1.html   

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