China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Recognition of the Crimea referendum results would meet the interests of Ukraine"

Crimea Referendum Results at First Glance

Nikolai MALISHEVSKI | 18.03.2014 | 09:30

According to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs official statement, the recognition of the Crimea referendum results would meet the interests of Ukraine and its people. Left-wing MPs in Germany call on the West to accept the results of Crimea referendum. Sahra Wagenknecht, deputy chairperson of the Left party, said that there are realities that should be taken as an accomplished fact. She called for accounts belonging to Ukraine’s oligarchs to be frozen. Even before the referendum Wagenknecht accused the German government of having a «deeply hypocritical foreign policy» and rejected plans by the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to lend Ukraine billions of euros.  Gregor Gysi, a parliamentary head of the largest lower-house opposition party in Germany – the Left Party – has spoken out against German Chancellor’s unquestioning support of the coup-appointed Ukrainian government. He said, «The EU and the German government accepted that the overthrow of President Yanukovich was a coup against the Constitution… but now they base their criticism of Putin’s actions in the Crimea on that very broken Constitution. Just when does this Constitution apply?»  The observers from France and Poland said there were no violations and the procedures corresponded to international norms.  Emerique Chopard (France), a French geopolitical analyst, visited the polling stations in Simferopol and Sebastopol. He said the referendum was democratic and the voters expressed their will, the atmosphere was calm and turnout was high as the overwhelming majority supported the reunification with Russia.   Polish MP Mateusz Piskorsky, who headed the Polish group of observers, said, that «everything was quiet, peaceful and up to major international standards»…   The majority of Western media outlets have done their best to ignore the statements, the same way they have done it with the survey published by Le Figaro for the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP). The predominant majority of French (71%) and Germans (57%) don’t want to see Ukraine as a member of the European Union. At that, great attention is paid to statements by politicians and diplomats similar to the one made by Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski and his compatriots who remembered that Poland was the first European state to recognize the independence of Ukraine in 1991. Looks like the European establishment gives Poland a carte-blanche as newsmaker guiding the EU eastern policy without taking into consideration the opinion of its own citizens.   Eastern Europe is very responsive to such things. Polish Gazeta Wyborcza and Czech weekly Respekt (the front page of the last edition offers a map with the word cholera written on the territory of Russia) wrote that Radoslaw Sikorski is the new leader of Europe who is going to change the European politics and history. The interviews Sikorski gave to BBC and CNN are widely reprinted and highlighted. The head of Polish diplomacy admitted that the Crimea referendum is «an accomplished fact» but he found it proper to threaten Russia saying that Russians are going to pay dearly for Crimea.«We are all reluctant to impose sanctions because Russia will probably respond and we'll all suffer as a result. But Russia is leaving us no choice»,Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has told CNN.  The authors of Polish outlets are serious when they say that the events in Ukraine make Poland a growing European power, the fact confirmed by the intensification of its foreign policy efforts.   Polish media reporting on the referendum results is rather tedious making by and large the same conclusion concerning the gist of the matter. For instance, central Rzeczpospolita writes that Russia has taken measures to counter possible Western sanctions (1). It adds that Crimea is lost for Ukraine for many years ahead if not forever because the «supporters of secession won the referendum».  Journalist Jagienka Wilczak is an editor for the weekly Polityka, where she is in charge of the social issues section and is an expert of Eastern Europe and military conflicts. According to her, «the referendum results the Kosovo precedent acquires new relevance. If the majority wants independence it must get it». (1) It literally said that the US treasures held by central banks reached the peak of demand in the period between March 5 - 12, and the Bank of Russia, the $138, 6 billion US security bonds holder, is the chief suspect: the sales have already reached the level of $104 billion. lhttp://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2014/03/18/crimea-referendum-results-at-first-glance.html