Crimean Referendum To Be Held Under Military Threat

(This political cartoon is by Jimmy Margulies in Newsday.)

The people in the Ukranian province of Crimea are supposed to hold a referendum tomorrow. The referendum is supposedly to determine whether they want to remain a part of Ukraine or become a part of Russia. Unfortunately, that referendum is being held at the point of a gun.

Not only is Crimea being occupied by Russian troops at the current time, but bands of ethnic-Russian "militias" are roaming the streets and doing their best to intimidate non-Russian residents of the troubled region. This makes the referendum little more than a joke -- an excuse for Russia to grab part of the Ukraine for itself, and maybe even provoke a war with Ukraine and grab up the whole country.

There is little doubt how the referendum will come out, since non-Russians living there will probably be too intimidated to go to the polls and vote -- and may even be physically prevented from doing so. Russia claims that Crimea has the right to determine their own future. That might be true -- if the province hadn't been invaded and occupied by Russia. But under the current conditions, the referendum can't be considered to be the true will of Crimeans, and it shouldn't be recognized by any other nation (or by the United Nations).

If the Russians really want Crimea to decide their own future, they should withdraw all of their troops and let the Crimeans do that.