So I guess Putin is going to take Crimea by force? Use it as his “Grenada and Panama”? His resurgence? Show a little muscle? Smart really.
No problem here. Self determination. If they Crimeans go for it, well, then I can’t make a libertarian case against it. No state has the right to control a body of people that do not wish to be controlled by it.
(The federal government has no right to control the people of Texas for example.)
Hate the state.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-28 11:27:00 UTC
THE RUSSIAN ‘SPIN’
I completely understand (a) Putin’s ambition to create an eastern trade zone, (b) his desire to restore Russia to the world stage (c) the right of people in lands that contain an ethnically Russian majority to self determination, (d) the territorial investment and historical relation with Crimea, (e) the strategic importance of the black sea ports, (f) his fear that the revolution against corruption here in Ukraine will (justly) spread to Russia and unseat him.
What I don’t get is his SPIN, and his media’s spin, that the current government is somehow not legitimate when given the extraordinary corruption here was on a scale so significant that it affected the GDP.
I mean, corruption is always immoral, but at some point its pervasive enough that it becomes not just immoral but material, and at some other point it becomes not just material but catastrophically destructive. And the corruption here is in the catastrophic category. I mean, you can’t claim that anyone conducting that level of corruption is legitimate. You simply can’t. It will backfire on you.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-28 01:15:00 UTC
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/28/silicon_valley_dreams_of_secession/
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-26 03:11:00 UTC
http://gunssavelives.net/blog/ukrainian-citizens-want-their-own-constitutional-amendment-to-own-guns/THE SOURCE OF LIBERTY IS AN ARMED POPULACE
Ukraine starts the revolution now.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-25 14:42:00 UTC
CRIMEA
I get that Crimea has the best of both worlds if it stays part of Ukraine, but has Russia’s backing. In effect it gets to play the Black Sea version of Hong Kong. If brought back into Russia directly it would have less autonomy that it does as a ‘leased territory’.
(FWIW: stopping the Russians from taking over the Ottomans (the crimean war) was yet another stupid thing we did. Added to the list of many stupid things we did. Sigh…)
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-24 04:08:00 UTC
–“That little militia did more for their freedom than democracy ever had. I think that’s what I learned from watching Ukrainians revolt.”–
Curt Doolittle
The Propertarian Institute
Kiev.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-23 08:35:00 UTC
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-a-new-ukraine-is-the-kremlins-worst-nightmare-9146751.htmlTHE FUTURE : RUSSIAN POWER AGAINST UKRAINE?
(note: I am pro-russian and pro-ukrainian both. My interest in this geopolitical rough and tumble is simple: I want a strong east that suppresses visible corruption so that people can economically prosper. )
“Russia has talked a lot about its “soft power” in recent years. It isn’t particularly soft. The new Ukraine will pay more for gas, which will be regularly cut off for “technical reasons”. Russia’s crazy “food safety” agency will declare that everything that comes out of Ukraine is radioactive. Ukrainian migrant workers will be sent home now they have finished helping to rebuild Sochi.
Worst of all, Russia will work hard to try to re-corrupt the political system. The Kremlin used to boast that it could exploit Ukraine’s old-style “democracy” – meaning that, just like Yanukovych, they could launch their own puppet parties and buy agents of influence in the honest ones. The Ukrainian Front, a bizarre alliance of hooligans and bikers with a vaguely pan-Slavist ideology that appeared in the eastern city of Kharkiv two weeks ago, was backed by the Russians. Skinheads and sportsmen with the money to spend on propaganda are not a natural combination. Similar groups may pop up in Crimea and elsewhere, where the last elements of the old regime may try and regroup.
But Russia’s ultimate problem is the same as Yanukovych faced. The Kremlin simply can’t understand that protesters would be motivated by ideology rather than by money or foreign support. The Russians were good at manipulating the old system, but dealing with real revolutionaries is a different matter. Ukraine is starting a very bumpy ride.”
THEY ARE NOT MOTIVATED BY IDEOLOGY BUT ECONOMIC SUFFERING AND FREEDOM FROM SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-22 23:15:00 UTC
UKRAINE. THE MILITIA : EVERY ABLE BODIED MAN
Ukraine made a militia out of ad hoc barricades, old tires, molotovs, custom made armor, surplus helmets and construction gear.
Large groups of Ukrainians are patrolling the streets for troublemakers. The police are just ‘gone’. Invisible. They are wearing soviet era helmets, makeshift armor, and carrying baseball bats and lengths of pipe.
No bravado. Just doing it.
If every able bodied (and sane) man (and woman) is armed, and trained, then your government cannot oppress you. If your government does not want every able bodied (and sane) man (and woman) armed and trained, then you have to wonder why they would fear such a thing. If you aren’t willing to commit yourself to being armed and trained (if sane) then you cannot possibly claim that you have earned your property rights. ‘Cause you haven’t. You’re a parasite on the commitment, risk and effort of others.
Pacifist libertarianism is just an excuse for free riding: parasitism.
If you don’t have a militia, you don’t have freedom.
You merely have permission.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-22 16:08:00 UTC
KIEV: Tomorrow will be a very interesting day here. He has left Keiv, and Kiev is lost. If he tries to split the country from the East, that’s pretty interesting. Not sure how the protesters will handle it. But as far as I can tell he’s carrying on the fight.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-21 17:39:00 UTC
UKRAINE UPDATE : Getting word that the President has left the country. The plane is now east of crimea heading toward Russia or Georgia?
Other rumor is that he will try to announce a split of the country tomorrow. Not sure how much stock to put in it.
The protesters have stated that he goes before they cease action.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-21 17:34:00 UTC