The Deaths Have Begun

The latest from Crimea is that two are now confirmed dead:  a Ukrainian officer in a base that was stormed by Russian backed forces and one of the men from those forces.  It is a terrible and unnecessary thing to have happened, and there seems nothing to stop the situation from getting worse other than restraint from Russia and Ukraine.

I was in Crimea last year, and found the area to be quite lovely.  It is an area that seems an unlikely place for a war.  The same is true of the rest of Ukraine.  Odessa, the largest Ukrainian city near Crimea is a 19th century gem that looks a bit like a smaller version of the Paris of that era.  The idea that Russian nationalism should bubble up and throw the area into chaos is a tragedy.  Unfortunately, as things worsened in Ukraine for the past six months, there was no responsible action taken by any other nation.  The European Union has spent the last five years negotiating with Ukraine in a foot dragging exercise that really commenced this mess.  America treated the problems in Ukraine as if they did not exist.  Even when it was clear that major problems were surfacing, the Obama administration ignored them.  Now the world may pay a heavy price for all this inaction.  I hope not, but it sure looks that way at the moment.