Western Attempts to Portray Crimea's Conditions as 'Dire' Fail

The West is painting a gloomy picture of Crimeans' life under Russia's "occupation," but this picture is totally divorced from reality: Crimea is faring well, especially compared to neighboring Ukraine, Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer claims.

"Life in Russian Crimea today is exceedingly normal. While a war rages on next door in Ukraine, the people of Crimea enjoy peace, stability, and a sense of unity and hope for the future… People are still able to conduct business more or less as they did before the conflict [in Ukraine] began. Some say the economy has actually improved despite sanctions," Tony Cartalucci pointed out.

However, NATO is still creating myths of "invasion" and "occupation." And it is NATO who has taught the world, how real occupation and intervention looks like, remarked the researcher. Indeed, what happened in Crimea a year ago could not be compared to a typical US-led NATO invasion with cities heavily bombed, tens of thousands killed and many more displaced.

NATO's invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 resulted in continued chaos and violence accompanied by abuse, mass murder, and systematic torture. In 2003, the United States and its NATO allies launched a military campaign in Iraq which led to a longstanding occupation of the country. The conflict claimed the lives of almost one million people, including thousands of Western soldiers.

The researcher also reminded of a network of prison camps, maintained by the US on the occupied territories and pointed, particularly, to the story of gruesome torture at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison.

The war, unleashed by NATO-members in the Middle East and Central Asia also resulted in the use of combat unmanned aerial vehicles which regularly kill men, women and children, the researcher stressed.

The horrors of NATO invasions cannot be compared to what happened to Crimeans, who peacefully rejoined the Russian Federation after the referendum on March 16, 2014. Many of them identify themselves either as Russians or of Russian descent, speak Russian and observe Russian customs.  Furthermore, Crimea had long existed as a part of Russia and "the soil beneath their [Crimeans] feet has been soaked in Russian blood to defend it from aggression throughout history, including against the Nazis in World War 2," Tony Cartalucci emphasized. 

Meanwhile, the West is desperately trying to depict Crimeans' life after the peninsula returned to Russia "as dire, as possible." Alas, the best Western media can present as evidence that Crimea is "suffering" are vanished "McDonalds" and "Apple stores," the researcher noted sarcastically.

All the arguments that Russia has occupied Crimea do not stand up to careful scrutiny, according to Tony Cartalucci. Ironically, at the same time the NATO-backed regime in Kiev has imposed upon its people the conditions and horrors resembling real invasion and occupation, the researcher concluded.