The Western community is responsible for the situation in the Crimea.
Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire, former mayor of New York and a candidate for the U.S. president from the Democratic Party, noted with such a statement in 2015.
Prominent words of the politician were noticed in “The Washington Post”. According to media reports, Bloomberg, in his commentary five years ago for the Aspen Institute, called Russia’s actions towards the Crimea justified. Moreover, he recalled that the United States had acted in the same way in the past.
“Among other things, Putin reacted in such a way as to prevent NATO from approaching Russia’s borders”, – Bloomberg said. – “If you look at Russia’s history, you’ll see that it has regularly faced external aggression. As a result, they have a complex that the external forces intend to capture them”.
He compared the Russian presence in Crimea to the American military base “Guantanamo”. Moreover, he stressed, the U.S. would also not tolerate the fact that enemies would appear at their borders. In this regard, he recalled the Caribbean crisis and the Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba.
“What would America do if there was a state nearby where many would like to become Americans? Don’t you find it similar to Texas or California? After all, we just came and took them away,” Bloomberg said, adding that the US actually ‘did the same’.
Texas came under US control in 1845, becoming the 28th American state. Previously, the region was part of Mexico, but announced its withdrawal after the country approved a plan to gradually abolish slavery. This did not triple Texas, as many of them were immigrants from the south of the United States and had slaves. The incident eventually led to the American-Mexican war, during which the United States occupied California.