[DemolitionRed]

The Crimea has been part of the Ukraine since 1954 but like the rest of the Ukraine and all the countries bordering Russian territory, it strongly depends on Russia for gas (amongst other things), Russia is known as a petro-state and the Ukraine is its lapdog.

In more recent years the Ukraine has been trying to break away from that dependency by building their own gas terminals for both themselves and with the intention of selling that gas to a viable market. Russia was, for obvious reasons, not prepared to lend money on this project but the US and the EU were. The Ukraine is a big country and its stability does affect the stability of Euope as a whole. Free trade agreement insured that countries stability and up until early last year the Ukraine believed they were heading towards that much needed signature.

Why do we want to get into a proxy war with Russia? the answer is, we don't, we really don't. This isn't about triumphalism and that's why we only started to implement sanctions after endless diplomatic talks with Moscow. The west very much stood back because they wanted the Ukraine to determine their own destiny; we wanted a peaceful resolution. We only started to up our game after the ceasefire in September wasn't honoured. I'll add to that... there is so much information from both Washington and Moscow about this ceasefire; nobody really knows who threw the first stone.

What we do know is, Russia started to cross borders into the Ukraine with tanks and heavy rocket launchers. We also know that Russian artillery has been fired across the borders and that Russian backed rebels are being armed with rifles and anti-tank weapons. This is a fratricide war but only one side are armed. Why shound the west not back those who need to fight the Russian separatists? We were already involved in Negotiations with the Ukraine before this upheaval. So far, the west has only sent emergency aid for the 1.5 million displaced Ukrainians. Its shown and still shows no eagerness to to pour gasoline onto an open fire like the Russians appear to be doing.