Cremia Crisis

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/

The past month, the portion of Ukraine called Crimea is being pressured to be annexed by Russia. This article explains the situation of the current conflict, and the possible outcomes it may have. Crimea is an Eastern portion of Ukraine that has many ties to Russia, especially with its culture. Russia is trying to gain back this region, which was lost years ago after the fall of the soviet union. Ukraine however does not want to give back this land, even though it has close ties to Russia. Ukraine has stated that they will not give in to these demands by Putin, which has many fearing for war. Ukraine hopes for peace and the world hopes for this issue to be solved diplomatically. However, Ukraine fears the worst and has started to mobilize their own troops in case of an assault. If Russia were to invade, Ukraine would not hesitate to respond to this act of aggression with defense. Many other nations including the United States have placed sanctions on Russian officials in the region.

I think that Ukraine definitely has the right to defend themselves from this annexation by Russia. Crimea is an important region to both countries, and neither of them want to lose it. However, there is not much that Ukraine can do to stop this. First of all, many people in the Crimea region want to be part of Russia and not Ukraine, which will make it very difficult to stop this action diplomatically. The Ukrainian government also would not be able to stop Russia if Russia was to annex this portion forcefully. Ukraine's army is simply nothing compared to that of Russia's, and an attack would be futile. It seems the only option left for Ukraine is to hope for international support, but no organization wants to start another war. Even though the Russians do not have the right to do this, it appears that Ukraine can do little to stop it. Should Ukraine just give up Crimea to avoid anymore conflict?