In past articles, I’ve addressed part of what IMO motivates Russia today in the Crimea.\u00a0 Short version:\u00a0 Russia arguably – and IMO, actually does – have superior historical, demographic, and cultural claims to the Crimea vis-\u00e0-vis the Ukraine.\u00a0 The Ukraine today has the Crimea solely due to historical accident; namely, because they received it as “gift” in 1954 from the USSR’s Supreme Soviet.\u00a0 Russia wants it back.<\/p>\n
That said, there’s almost certainly another contributing factor to Russia’s more assertive behavior today.\u00a0 Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs Peter Brookes details that briefly but quite eloquently here<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s worth a read.<\/p>\n Russia’s history is that they respect strength.\u00a0 When faced with weakness, they assert themselves – sometimes quite aggressively.<\/p>\n Ignoring that historical truth is not particularly wise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"