User blog comment:Saturn120/Putin / Hitler/@comment-3528888-20140323185043

Just a phew differences,

1.Putin did not invade crimea for no reason, crimea is host to many ethnic russians, and it plays host to the Russian black sea fleet, which russia pays Ukraine annualy with lower gas prices in order to retain the rights to, with Crimea in Russia;s control, Russia no longer has to throw that money at Ukriane. Also, I dont recall Hitler refraining from casualties, the strong support for his actions by the people of Sudterland, or at least some attempt at simulating a democratic Referendum on either joining Germany or staying Czechoslovac.(just to calrify, I do believe that the results of the referendum were...embelished, especialy with the Crimean tatars and many ethnic ukrainians boycotting the election, I do still find it a bit unnecesary that putin decided to reanimate the Dead so that Sevastopol got 123% voter turnout...which is whjy I said simulate democratic referendum)...also, the czech governement didnt try to ban the use of german...which the Kiev governement did...and then repealed the ban when it was already too late and crimea and east were in too much of an uproar to do anything but damage control. Also, he wont ever invade the rest of ukraine, simply because he wont find the words to explain it away, even his staunchest supproters at that point can't deny that it is the russian army invading, and that might draw in NATO, which will draw in Nukes. Not something he wants...

2. Putin is simply trying to gain support in the ultraconservative base in Russia, seens as his last election was much worse, even with ballot box stuffing he failed to gain a majority in the Parlimentary elections, althouth now it seems quite ineffective compared the surge in his popularity due to his "standing up to the West" over crimea...although

3. Putin wanted the olympics and would have hosted them regardless of what happened in Crimea, and the olympics are picked by and independant comitte anyway, and I would argue that the Olympics stayed Putin's hand because all international eyes were on russia, putin would have been much more agressive, and probably the invasion would have happened as soon as Yanukovich fled..

4. One of Russia's only foreign military bases is in syria, and Assad was Putin's ally...they wer allies before this kurfuffle started, and Putin surely doesnt want another Lybia to happen, where the UN resolution failed to stay a no fly zone...so yes, he is against intervention...Putin has his allies that were his allies Before any of this happened. the US has its allies, and will undoubtably support them a civil war(how US will support israel if Palestine were to become more powerful and rise up, Israel and USA would call it civil war because they dont recognize palestine as a nation).

5. Putin is paranoid about a Western conspiracy aimed at harming russia, which I would argue started in 2004 when the Orange revolution ousted Yanukovich(yes, the same one ousted this time) from office, and replaced him with pro-west politicians...Also, Putin simply wants a high aprroval rate, and deperately needs it. Putin can't cave now, he has written himself into a corner with his own rhretoric, If he backs out of crimea, it hurts him emensely, because 1. he has to admit he has failed to his own people and be seen as weak, plumiting his approval ratings he got because he "stood up to the west", and 2. Crimea would feel betrayed and abandoned, souring the people's taste for russia for generations to come, something he can not afford to have.