Geopolitical Interests Quotes
It was true that the majority of the citizens of Crimea in 2014 preferred to be a part of Russia than the Ukraine. So the Russians sized the Crimea, had an election and when the vast majority of the Crimeans voted for Russian affiliation, they annexed the Crimea under the principle of self-determination. However, Russia has two of its states with Muslim majorities that prefer to affiliate with one of the majority Muslim nations in the area. But the hypocrisy of the Russians became clear when they would not allow those two states to have elections. The Russian policy seemed to be that whatever is part of Russia is non-negotiable and not subject to self-determination, but whatever borders on Russia that is not part of Russia is entitled to an expression of self-determination and independence of other affiliation if they want. The Crimea had the only warm water port in the Soviet Union; they had a deal with the Ukrainians that their navy could use the port. However, they felt that Western support for the new Ukrainian government was the first step in ousting Russia from that port.
Most experts believe that this objective was sustained all through the Afghanistan War in the early 21st century.
Assad was the autocratic ruler of Syria. In the second decade of the 21st century, a number of dissident groups started a rebellion. The Unied States and most of the EU countruies wanted to assist the rebels as Assad had been butchering his own people to put down the rebellion. Russia, in addition to having an allaince with Assad for a Navel Base in Syria, was very coincerned about the people replacing Assad if the revolution succeeded. The coalition of rebels was not at all a coalition and there was considerable fighting and hatred between them ISIS was one of the stringest groups and the Russians were worried that they might take over so they supported Assad and in 2016 actually intervened using Russian air power to support the Government troops. That turned the tide and teh rebellion was prevented from succeeding. The Russian leadership was distressed that the United States did not take their concerns seriouly enough and indeed after they were in teh fight, the United States had to deal with them about the fate of Syria, so it was a successful tactic.
