Inside Putin's Rigged Ukraine Election -- Jamie Dettmer, Daily Beast
The referendum in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk on Sunday followed the same Kremlin rules we saw in Crimea, and likely will have the same result, dismembering Ukraine.
DONETSK, Ukraine — Shortly before separatist leaders here declared a huge majority had voted in a referendum to break from Ukraine, their press spokeswoman had chortled at the idea that a result would be declared a mere three hours after polling stations closed.
“Are you crazy? How would we have time to count the ballots?” said Claudia.
Precisely, how indeed? But then despite a series of opinion polls over the past few weeks showing only a minority of eastern Ukrainians wanted to follow the example of the Black Sea peninsula and secede, the plebiscite in Donetsk—one of two of Ukraine’s easternmost regions voting Sunday—was always a foregone conclusion.
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My Comment: One can have a debate on the value and merits (or lack of) this independence vote .... and even on the role that Putin has played .... but there is no question about one thing .... many in eastern Ukraine have given up on having a future in a unified Ukraine .... and this is going to be a long term problem for the Ukraine government and for many in the region itself.
