Tatar Sunni Muslims pose a threat to Russia's occupation of Crimea
Pro-Ukrainian Islamic minority could mount a more organised resistance against Russian invaders in Crimea peninsula .There are 266,000 Crimean Tatars in Crimea, over 13% of the local population. They are Sunni Muslim, traditionally pro-Ukrainian, and much better organised than the local Ukrainians, who make up 23% of the population.
They are clannish and for Crimea, prosperous. Take that away with restrictions and despair, unrest will follow and the passages of peace will be shouted down with the passages of intolerance.
That's kinda cool. One of the interesting things about Ukraine is its complicated ethnicity. Ukraine was a sort of crossroads in historic Eurasia, and the borders have shifted a lot in the past few centuries.
Flying home from my first trip to Russia, I sat next to two young Tatar men (from Tatarstan in Russia, rather than Ukrainian Tatars). They spoke English well, and were good company. They even stayed at my house one night, on their way to Texas where they had J-1 sponsored jobs.
Their names are distinctive -- not the usual Russian names (Andrei, Ivan, Boris etc.)
To Svenden's point about Tatar resistance ... Putin is clearly aware of this risk, because his thugs in Crimea have raided offices of the Tatar leadership, and exiled at least one main figure (who I believe had gone to unoccupied Ukraine, and now is not allowed to return to Crimea).
But Putin has to be a little careful, because in the early days of this crisis Turkey announced that it would respond to repression of Crimea's Tatars by preventing Russian vessels from entering or leaving the Black Sea.
Send: 8/3/2011 9:36:50 AM
"He was there 2 weeks ago at the McDonalds by Darnitsa metro station and refused to
sell me a McRib. I knew it was him when I saw a 9 year old girl in a burka sitting nearby claiming to
be his wife;)"
A 9 year old girl is much too old to be mohammed's wife.
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Russian brides > Main Forum > In Ukraine I saw the Prophet Mohammhed working in mcDonalds.Has any one else seen him too?