Comments by "LancesArmorStriking" (@LancesArmorStriking) on "The Ukraine FACTS The West Doesn't Want To Hear | With Nicolai Petro, Ruslan Kotsaba, and A. Duleba." video.

Regarding the annexation: yes, it was done under military duress. However, given the history of the peninsula (specifically the 1994 referendum, at a time when Russia had no reason to worsen relations with Ukraine by sponsoring a fake referendum), I think the results are still close to legitimate. Most people there have voted for pro-Russian candidates in Ukrainian elections, and the last census showed a super-majority (60+%) of ethnic Russians. It is not fantasy to suggest that, after the Maidan ouster of Yanukovich, most Crimeans would want to leave Kyiv's political administration.
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@garyddlewis3067 All 3 Baltic counties have received criticism from human rights organizations over their treatment of Russian-speaking citizens in their countries. It is true. Stop trying to mask your weird nationalist revenge fantasy.
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 @braveheart4603 They are decidedly anti-Western, not neutral.
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@braveheart4603 No, Putin started the anti-Western turn after 2003 when the US illegally invaded Iraq, but in full swing after 2011, when the CIA fomented unrest in Libya that resulted in Gaddafi's death. It wasn't reluctant. He planned this out for years, including insinuating the Russian economy from damage by sanctions.
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@@RedZangief That doesn't mean they hadn't started decoupling their economy. The prices started in 2000s when Putin made trade deals with China, accelerated in 2014 when Moscow subsidized food production to replace sanctioned European imports, and finally is coalescing into more trade with Asia as a whole.
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@davekeating5867 They were very close to becoming accepted as European near the end of WWI, where France promised Russian Empire control of Constantinople if they won. Western Europe in the 1910s was experiencing a Russophilic craze, until the Empire lost to Germany and the Soviets rose to power.
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