Opinion: Crimeas sham referendum Latest update : 13/03/2014 © AFP Article text by Douglas HERBERT FRANCE 24s International Affairs Editor Douglas Herbert gives his take on Sundays referendum in Crimea. When Crimeans vote this Sunday in a Russian-backed referendum on whether to secede from Ukraine, their “choice” will boil down to one of two options: “Do you want to be part of Russia?” or… “Do you want to be part of Russia?” To be sure, the actual questions on the ballot will be more cunningly worded than that, so as to lend the hastily organised ballot the trappings of democratic legitimacy. Voters inside Crimea – and those looking in from the outside – will be offered the illusion of a genuine choice. So what is that choice? Crimea’s pro-Russian, rogue leadership – spearheaded by a Moscow puppet, Prime Minister Sergei Aksenov, a former prisoner jailed in 2001 on charges of terrorism who garnered a whopping 4% in local elections in 2010 – has come up with a savvy way of asking essentially the same thing, without asking the same thing. (be continue to the article) m.france24/en/20140313-opinion-crimea-sham-referendum-ukraine-russia-herbert/
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 03:17:05 +0000
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