When Margaret Thatcher of Britain sent the British navy 8,064 miles away to Falkland Islands, in the backyard of Argentina, to occupy it, the western media hailed her as the “Iron Lady.” When Putin tries to save the Russian-speaking population who want to be with Russia, in his own backyard, in Crimea, he is branded as a monster by the same western press.

Did the United States ever permit any Russian installation in Cuba? The United States flew 6,915 miles to Iraq to bomb its population, in the name of American people’s security, after flying a marathon 7,410 mile to Afghanistan for the same purpose. Like the west of Ukraine, which wants to join the EU, the east of Ukraine wants to join Russia.

The EU and the United States consider the west’s wish legitimate but not the east’s aspirations. The truth is that the EU and the United States were both actively encouraging the uprising and even discussing who should be in the new government.

Now a banker runs the new government and a couple of oligarchs have been appointed to oversee the country. Let the Russian-speaking people of Crimea decide whom they should join.

S.H. Moulana

Riyadh