Cold war becomes hot in Crimea

Russia began a stealth invasion of Crimea last week, letting uniformed men without insignias, take control of first the local parliament and then key pieces of infrastructure like the two airports.

I have visited Crimea once, quite recently, in October 2013 travelling around visiting Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta and the seat of the Crimean Tatar Khanate Bakhchysarai. Two things struck me about Crimea, the climate is really nice (it was not that week, but it has palm trees) and it’s a mixture ethnically of the Tatars, Ukrainians and ethnic Russians. Russian is the main language on the peninsula, as it has been for centuries and especially since Stalin decided to deport all Crimean Tatars for their alleged cooperation with the Nazis, during their invasion of Crimea.

Crimea has a history of being fought over by many different groups, and having lived in Israel and studied…