An eye-opening metric on the Crimean vote came out of Sevastopol, the host of Russia’s massive naval base, where turnout was logged at 123 percent of registered voters.
Reports were that anyone with a passport was allowed to vote, and it didn’t have to be a Ukrainian passport. One reporter reported getting a ballot with a Russian passport, and with a large number of Russian troops based there, it is possible that they were part of the count.
Not that this was liable to significantly alter the result. With the pro-Russia vote in the high 90%s, and most of the opposition boycotting the referendum, the result was a foregone conclusion.
International observers who oversaw the referendum also said the vote was carried out surprisingly professionally considering how little time there was to prepare, and even if who was allowed to vote was a little bit unclear, the vote itself seems to have been credible.
Wow, that almost equals Dubya's numbers in some Ohio counties.
The mess the Russians have made of this referendum is exactly the kind of typically Russian bungling that drives the Ukrainians crazy! If they had allowed proper interanational supervision, the result, whatever it was, would have been unchallengable. But when OSCE observers tried to enter Ukraine, shots were fired to chase them off, then suddenly, last Tuesday, when it was too late to organise anything, the OSCE was asked to send observers. The whole thing was a totally unnecessary shambles! RT TV is hardly a reliable source and the "observers" referred to seem to be a single Polish MP from a far-right party that gone 1.5% of the vote and no seats in the last Polish election (Google his name and enjoy the pictures!) and a close adviser to the French Front National!
The OSCE mission that tried to enter Crimea had been invited by the Kiev coup-installed 'government' & it refused to acknowledge the Crimean government. When they tried to force their way through the newly established Crimean border (which they didn't recognize) warning shots were fired. Later OSCE was invited by the Crimean government to observe the referendum – the invitation was DECLINED. It was refused for political reasons, as accepting would mean acknowledging the Crimean government.
The Polish MP you are referring to is the head of the International Observers Team – the observers themselves came from a number of European countries and Israel.
As far as RT not being a reliable source – pray, tell what news source is reliable in your estimation – CNN perhaps?
There is not one news outlet that is unbiased – to establish any semblance of truth one has to consult variety of sources and distill facts from propaganda.
Here is a fact – Crimeans were outraged in 1954 by their wholesale (illegal according to USSR Constitution) transfer to Ukraine and ever since have been dreaming of going back. Now they have.
Virtually the whole peninsula is celebrating with tears of happiness while the West is hard at pains to discredit the will of the people – nothing to do with Russian 'bungling', everything to do with anti-Russian prejudice and far-reaching geopolitical goals.
If anything, RT is more reliable than CNN, as RT doesn't try to pretend it's anything other than Russian state media.
Most American "private enterprise" media are fully on board with the US regime agenda, give or take a few minor partisan biases on way or the other. They're state media in everything but name, but while pretending (not very convincingly) to "objectivity."
At least some of the European media wear their biases on their sleeves instead of trying to pretend otherwise. You know the Guardian is left, you know the Mail is right, etc.
NPR is also state media as is CPB in case people did not realize it.
And it shows.
If one follows Michel Kenny's postings one finds that he is prone to make the wildest assertions such as "Ukraine is NATO's Munich (1)", or "Putin will probably grab all of Ukraine" or "Putin will then go for the Baltic republics". He cannot be taken seriously because he avers what he fervently hopes Mr. Putin will do.
(1) Mr. Kenny has obviously overlooked the possibility that "Munich" can also be taken to refer to Hitler's failed "Beerhalle" Putsch! As I said, he cannot be taken seriously.
I believe that you will find that Mr. Kenny has a work address at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Great article but deceptive headline unfortunately which is all that many will see.
It substitutes an irrelevant anecdote for the general fact of a free and fair election acknowledged further on in the article
With this much talk of media, RT was best BY FAR. They are corporate media, like the rest of the US media. So, they will have bias. That said, they had by far more reporters on the ground throughout the turmoil, they recorded and showed to the world what West is trying hard to cover up. That is, the role, and the numbers of right-wing Nazi-oriented and the whole plethora of true Nazi-parties and movements. We saw very professional and organized attacks on police, that did not come spontaneously from protesters. They conducted interviews, the whole range of people. They collected videos of people who were there, that show massive brutality and abuse of the right-wing towards the people in administration or elected officials. They were the only ones to show how the lies are made — for example that Tatars boycoted the vote. No, they did not. They are just as nervous about Kyev. Polling stations in Tatar communities are busy — anybody can take pictures outside, no way to hide it. RT was the only source of info on the taped convesation between Estonian minster and Cahterine Ashton. The only ones showing TV address to Ukrainians by the new white supremacist Yatsenyk where with crazed look he promises to burn the ground from underneath the "traitors", meaning the protesters in regions that he has turned into non-citizens, and on and on. The only channel worth watching for facts — and compare with CNN total darkness. Where is CNN now in Southeastern Ukraine to hear from them, as the new "government" is rounding up the protest leaders! Whatever the "west" means — it is no longer anything good.
I've seen this western deception before in Iran. The inflated numbers in Sevastopol are almost certainly due to people going there from outlying areas to vote.