Krushchev giving the Crimea to Ukraine has been a serious sore spot before the recent events. The Russians WILL support a war against the U.S. and the Crimea would be a easy way for Putin to accelerate support for taking it back. They might let transcarpathia got to he west but not the Crimea. Question is what will China do if Putin puts on the gloves?
I expect to see Moscow arm Iraqi`s with more serious equipment as a warning prior to going to blows with the U.S. dircetly. However if Bush wont back down in the Ukraine I wont be surprised to see things get nasty in georgia and Ukraine. However I think Russia and China would prefer to go toe to toe with us in 2 to 4 years when our economy has fallen further apart. Obviously Bush does not want to wait.
To think that Moscow is just going to hand over the Black Sea to the West without a fight after Iraq and Kosovo is pretty ludicrous IMO.
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