The European Union is committing to its policy of perceiving revolutionary determination as its course of legitimacy. Apparently, a referendum gaining nearly 100% popular support isn’t sufficient to qualify for the self determination of a region. Therefore, the EU will continue to consider the Crimea as politically a part of the Ukraine. This, of course, means that the EU has reason for its sanctions regime against Crimea, which it will be extending for yet another year.
Deutsche Welle reports:
The European Union extended economic sanctions on Crimea and its port city of Sevastopol on Monday. The 28-member bloc imposed the measures after Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula four years ago.
The EU said it remains “firmly committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” reiterating that “it does not recognize and continues to condemn this violation of international law.”
The measures — which will now stay in place until June 23, 2019 — ban the import of products originating in Crimea. They also prevent EU nationals or companies based in the bloc from investing or buying real estate in Crimea and Sevastopol, and ban EU cruise ships from docking there, except in an emergency.
The move comes three weeks after French lawmakers voted in favor of a resolution to lift parallel sanctions targeting Russia — currently set to expire at the end of next month — over its role in an ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. “(The sanctions are) totally ineffective today to solve this international crisis and are dangerous for France’s interests,” said conservative MP Thierry Mariani, who put forward the resolution.
Some French lawmakers also highlighted the importance of forming an “alliance” with Russia to fight the “Islamic State”, a common enemy, and find a solution to the Syrian conflict.
The general idea is that Crimea, now considered Russian territory by Moscow, isn’t responsible for its present predicament, and that Russia is the one to blame for the sanctions. EU hits someone with sanctions and points the finger elsewhere. The West, therefore, loves to create economic hardship on citizens of certain nations in an effort to stir up popular discontent against its government which the West then hopes to employ its efforts to control a method of regime change, commonly referred to as ‘color revolutions’. How this jives with democracy is anyone’s guess, as it appears to violate democratic processes going and coming.
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