Crimea and Punishment – Sunset Observer #27, by Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture | @MDWorld

March 6, 2014 Whitney Farmer 2 Comments

Last week, I remembered something from my first Economics class. I was a sophomore, and it was before my MBA was even a twinkle in my eye. The professor taught a class that was the only General University Requirement with a seat available offered in the time I needed. I didn’t care anything about the science of money because all that was beneath someone as altruistic as me. But I needed to finish out my GURs. Getting a grade was my desired currency.

But by the end of the class, I had been schooled. My life had changed. I loved this stuff. My test scores were perfect, except for deductions from not following directions. A few years later, my success in this class would give me enough confidence to try for my MBA when I was looking for a back-up plan after my internship to Haiti was cancelled because of a coup.

The class that transformed me was titled “Economic Geography”. Calm down…

The moment that I recalled that had me reading Wiki at midnight last week was when our professor was lecturing about the development of the Soviet Union.  The largest country in the world had 80% of its seaport access icebound 80% of the time. And the remaining temperate borders were landlocked. So the Soviets formed strategic alliances when necessary as with Communist China. But like the Borg who fought against Kirk and Picard’s beloved Federation, the Soviet Union preferred assimilation. Those countries that were not amenable were invaded, like Afghanistan. Throughout history, there have been attempts to push towards the sea where open temperate waters allowed for the free flow of trade in this commodities-rich land.

Russia has always pushed to warm water.

And the Crimean Peninsula has always been particularly appealing because of being surrounded by the Black Sea on three sides. Like the alveoli in our lungs, the increased surface area that this configuration creates allows for easier exchanges, whether of oxygen or of imports and exports.  It doesn’t matter if your land is rich in commodities if your seacoast is locked in ice. And negotiating rights to use another country’s ports is super hard and really takes a bunch of time.

It is much easier to invade.

This is what Russia did in 1853 which ignited the Crimean War, the conflict which ultimately would set the stage for World War One. Yes, the United States got Alaska out of it after Russia sold it to us for needed cash after losing the war against allied countries. And the world got the new profession of nursing launched by Florence Nightingale when battlefield casualties exceeded the capacity of available doctors. But the economic damage to the region, bitter enmities, and new strategic alliances made a future war with a larger footprint inevitable.

I had wondered after the dissolution of the Soviet Union how long it would take Russia to violate borders and push south again.  I remembered thinking that Yeltsin seemed too busy perfecting his alcoholism to devise a strategy to increase geographic access for his country to participate in free trade. And I remembered Putin coming into power and thinking that he will be a dangerous adversary who had the intelligence and covert power alliances to leverage against anyone who stood in his way.

Alliances with dangerous characters like Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are understandable when that country’s hopscotch access to open water via the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf is calculated against the cost of doing business with such a hateful nincompoop.

This isn’t going to get better. Russia is already in Crimea. With Putin in power, I challenge anyone to describe how this could have been prevented. This pawn has traded sides of the board numerous times while always being coveted by Gog. Anyone who has a legitimate recommendation on how this can be remedied can step forward now, please.

The pieces have been moved on this chessboard, and ambitious politicians are risking more than we can afford to suggest that queens and bishops and castles should be sacrificed to retrieve this pawn.

Not even Bobby Fischer could maneuver out of this trap. Besides, he died crazy. Hopeless situations can make men’s hearts fail for fear.

Quote of the Blog, from Bobby Fischer: “All that matters on the chessboard is good moves.”

NEXT TIME: De-escalation of Revelation…?

Image: “Destiny” by John William Waterhouse. Painted in 1900 – a generation after the Crimean War – it was donated to the Artists War Fund in Britain to help support the care and rehabilitation of casualties. In the mirror painted behind the woman toasting with the chalice, the view of ships leaving for war is depicted.