Crimea is basically an island off the coast of Ukraine. A popular vacation spot with beautiful beaches, cities like Yalta have been the sites for major political summits. One in particular was the Yalta Conference of 1945, where Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met for the last time at the end of WWII.

Stalin had agreed to Soviet participation in the United Nations, but by March of 1945, he had no intention of keeping his promises. Roosevelt died only a month later in April of 1945.

Stalin’s main concern was Poland. After Germany’s surrender, Stalin had pointed out that the Germans had used Poland as a gateway to invade Russia twice in a 30 year period. Russia had annexed Poland in 1939 and Stalin wasn’t interested in meeting the exiled demands of the Polish government.

Churchill had pushed for sanction free elections to be installed in Poland, which Stalin had agreed to in Yalta.  In less than a month after negotiations, Soviet troops invaded Poland and set it up as one of the first Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe.

By March of 1946, Churchill delivered his famous speech about the “iron curtain” that had fallen across Eastern Europe. This was the beginning of the The Cold War.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Polish-American diplomat who served as Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor, based his entire career on Stalin’s invasion of Poland. The violence perpetrated against Poland by Russia that Brzezinski witnessed as a teenager was the defining period of his life. He was instrumental in defeating the Russians in Afghanistan. Supplying the Afghan mujahideen with weapons was what ultimately brought down the USSR and ended The Cold War.

What seems to happen often enough when wars break out is retaliation for historic grievances. Vendettas; the repayment of debts; the Old Testament “eye for an eye”. Stalin committed acts of genocide in Ukraine in the 1920’s and early 30’s. In a calculated effort to destroy Ukrainian independence, Stalin stole grain from Ukrainian farmers, causing a famine that killed close to 4 million people. This trauma certainly hasn’t been forgotten by Ukrainians – even if they weren’t alive to witness it.

Cut to Crimea in 2014. Putin’s invasion wasn’t motivated by a Communist effort to throttle Ukrainian independence. Russia is no longer Communist and Putin is definitely not Stalin.

Then president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who was elected in 2010, is arguably one of the most corrupt politicians the region has ever seen. He and his eldest son Oleksandr created their own business organization, calling themselves “The Family”.  Fake law firms and offshore companies served to legitimize their corrupt business investments. Yanukovych and his associates went to great lengths to keep their extravagant lifestyle out of the public eye.

What led to his downfall was a treaty in 2013 that would form an alliance between the Ukraine and the European Union. This was intended to be a great perk for Ukrainian citizens. However, if they knew then what would be happening to the E.U. in 2022, Ukrainians might not have been so enthusiastic.

This treaty would have also mandated transparency and economic accountability, which Yanukovych was loath to embrace. Russia was against any Ukrainian-E.U. alliance, and since Russia was Yanukovych’s primary foreign patron, he opted to back away from the treaty with the E.U.

This sparked an immediate backlash of civil unrest in Ukraine. The Euromaidan Uprising began in Kyiv in November of 2013, resulting in the death of 102 protestors. Yanukovych’s administration collapsed and he fled to Russia, where he remains in exile. He was later convicted of treason.

Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukrainian rule in response to the Euromaidan Uprising. Yanukovych encouraged Russia to send troops. This was a violation of international law. Putin is undeniably guilty of that. He has maintained his promise to former Russian president Boris Yeltsin to protect Russia and all Russian people, including those living in Ukraine. In particular, The Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Anti-Russian hate crimes have been an ongoing issue in that region.

Was it wrong for Putin to take responsibility for Crimea when Ukraine was sovereign and had claims to Crimea? From a legal standpoint, of course it was. However, because what’s at stake here is less about right and wrong and more about whose wounds are bigger, its almost impossible to take a side. The escalation of war will cost the lives of millions of people. Everyone loses if that happens.

Yanukovych cost Ukraine upwards of $100 billion. Current Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky also has billions in offshore accounts. The corruption in Ukraine has continued even after the ousting of Yanukovych.

Russian troops captured strategic sites in Crimea on February 27, 2014, right as Mars in Libra was conjunct the north node. I’ve mentioned this before – a malefic planet like Mars, Saturn or Pluto making a conjunction to the north node, as opposed to the south node, can encourage a tremendous force of will but is also inauspicious for the future.

As we’ve seen in Israel with the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians: when are the grievances healed? When do the hate crimes end? Can peace ever really be achieved? The famous Nietzsche quote seems apt:

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”