GUEST BLOG: Pat O’Dea – The Second Crimean War and the Return of Russian Imperialism
Russia continues its attack on Mariupol
As aggressors, the Russians could call off their assault on Mariupol at any time.
The capture of Mariupol will link Russia to its military base on the Crimean peninsula.
The invasion of Russia has nothing to do with the denazification of Ukraine, or any other lame excuse. The war in Ukraine is about Putin taking a strategic military advantage in the Black Sea.
Russia is close to achieving its strategic goal of connecting Crimea to Russia.
Isolated and surrounded, without food, water or electricity, with their city largely destroyed by Russian rockets and artillery, it seems unlikely that the Ukrainian defenders can hold out any longer.
The First Crimean War
…..the causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the expansion of the Russian Empire in previous Russo-Turkish wars, and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire in order to maintain the balance of power in the Concert of Europe…..
….. led to a war that was notable for its “notoriously incompetent international butchery”[6].
Pat O’Dea is a trade unionist and human rights activist.
