Bullets and ballots
UKRAINE, which lost Crimea to Russian annexation this spring, just got smaller again. Russian-backed separatists declared sovereign governments on the back of sham elections in Donetsk and Luhansk on November 2nd. America, the European Union and the UN condemned the vote for imperilling a ceasefire agreed in September. Russia welcomed it, but stopped short of official recognition. Officials in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, insist diplomacy is working. In reality, only a military effort can now bring the rebel-held territories back, and Ukraine’s army is not up to the task. As NATO’s most senior general acknowledged, eastern Ukraine is becoming …read more
Source: The Economist
