dajo9;842289775 said:
Different situation entirely. The Russians in Crimea didn't migrate to Crimea in search of opportunity that wasn't availale in Russia. Furthermore, 2nd generation immigrants to America generally self-identify as American. I think the number of people in the southwest who would vote in favor of Mexican rule in the American southwest would be a very small minority (not to mention the Central American immigrants).
Not quite. Crimea was a very desirable area of the USSR. Anybody able to migrate there was absolutely going there for opportunity. It was the same situation in the Baltics. The Russians deported the local populations and imported ethnic Russians as a policy of Russification. Soviet citizens were attracted to the areas of the USSR with a better standard of living. Crimea was one of those. It would have been the Soviet equivalent of moving from Minnesota to California in the 1970's.
As for the ethnic issue. It's complex. There is a large Tartar minority in Crimea that definitely wants nothing to do with Russia. If the ethnic issue was so favorable for the Russians there would be no need to ram through this sham Crimea election at the point of a gun.
