Did Iraq VOTE to be invaded by US troops? nope it didn't but Crimea had a referendum where they VOTED to rejoin Russia. Which country is anti democratic again?
No and neither did the Ukrainians (e.g. residents of Crimea) vote for a military invasion. The US invaded Iraq along with many other countries under UN Resolution 1441. And UN Resolution 1441 was passed with unanimous support of the UN Security Council. Yeah, I call that democratic and I think most people with half a functional brain do too. The US did not annex Iraq, instead it set up a democratic government, conducted open transparent elections which were monitored by independent observers, and exited the country. That isn’t what Russia did.
Russia has illegally invaded neighboring states, not once but twice. What is disconcerting is Russia has established a pattern of illegal behavior and is operating outside accepted norms and its actions in the Ukraine were condemned by a recent UN General Assembly vote. Russia invaded Crimea without provocation and without UN authority. Those uniformed well trained troops, fully equipped with armored vehicles, communications gear, and trucks, which magically showed up one day, and were subsequently proven to be Russian Army troops (Putin has subsequently admitted as much after his initial denials) were indeed Russian troops perpetrating an invasion of foreign land. If you believe a bunch of yahoos who earn on average $178/month and go down to their local store and fully equip with the latest Russian issue military goods and organize an army overnight without anyone noticing, I have a number of bridges I want to sell you. No one but ignorant fools believes that crap. Unfortunately there are a lot of ignorant fools around.
Russia then hastily conducted balloting where there were only two options on the ballot, immediate annexation or annexation latter. Not being annexed wasn’t an option on the ballot. So one vote for annexation on the ballot was enough to ensure annexation would occur. Russia couldn’t loose. It was the kind of balloting which was reminiscent of Soviet era. And unlike the US and its allies, Russia didn’t allow independent observers. The balloting wasn’t transparent as it was in Iraq. And the Crimea balloting was conducted under the auspices of armed thugs. Western media and UN observers were roughed up and thrown out. No, I don’t call that democratic either.
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