Self-Determination: Crimea Leads The Way For Other Ethnic Minorities
Veluppillai Thangavelu
Crimea Leads The Way For Other Ethnic Minorities To Invoke The Principle Of Self-Determination
These days newspaper pages are filled with news stories related to two different subjects at two different parts of the world. One is the annexation of Crimea as part of the Russian Federation by President Vladimir Putin last Friday (March 21, 2014). Russian President signed into law bringing the Crimea region into Russia, a move that has met with strong condemnation by the West and by threats of further sanctions against Russia. The United States and European Union have already targeted dozens of Russian and Ukrainian officials linked to Crimea’s unrest with far reaching assets freezes and travel bans.
The other news is about the disappearance of Malaysian Boeing 777 Airlines Flight 370 that evaporated into thin air on March 10, 2014. Twelve days later the missing plane has not been located despite air and sea search by ships and planes belonging to 26 countries covering thousands of sq. miles of land and sea. Former pilots and aviation experts are having a field day expounding a multitude of theories about the plane’s fate.
The full-blown 4 year old civil war in Syria that began in 2010 has killed over 100,000 people, half of whom are believed to be civilians. Bombings are destroying crowded cities and horrific human rights violations are widespread. Basic necessities like food and medical care are sparse.
