Russia, Crimea, the West, and Ukraine: a Parable.

[riqster]

http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/russia-crimea-the-west-and-ukraine-a-parable/

"Suppose, Gentle Reader, that your belligerent neighbor finally stops trying to talk you into selling him your property, and does a home invasion with a load of his shady cronies. He points guns at your head (and the heads of your family) and gives you two choices: sell him your land, or lease it to him for now (but he will be in total control of you and your property for the duration of the lease: and you know he’s gonna take it in the end, anyway).

When you say, “no, I don’t like either option, this land is mine and I want to keep it”, your invading neighbor says, “not an option”, and you hear the clicking sound of the safety on his gun being disengaged. That weapon is cocked, a round is in the chamber, and your head is about to go splat, in a very noisy manner. The only person in your family who likes the situation is your estranged daughter, who thinks the neighbor’s thuggish son is hot. So even if the motherf***er shoots you dead, he gets the land.

Thus, the situation in Ukraine writ small. Russia strolled into Crimea with guns, took control of the situation, and presented the populace with a “heads you lose it all now, tails you lose it all later” set of options. A few of the locals like it, most don’t, and some are vehemently opposed; but that gun is pointed at their collective noggin, and they don’t want to die, especially since they are f***ed no matter what.

This parable is accurate so far as it goes, but of course the real-life version is far worse. Putin’s thug cronies have already declared the outcome as a done deal, never mind how the vote turns out. And the other “neighbors” can’t call the “cops” to protect the Ukranian people, even though (or perhaps because) they know they could be next on the chopping block. These poor people are SO f***ed.

That, my friends, is what is going down in Ukraine. And it sucks."