Fact 1: Crimea has, to put it bluntly, a profoundly long and complicated history.
Fact 2: One of the players in that history is Nikita Khrushchev, whose actions involving the region were out of affection for his native Ukraine.
Fact 3: During the later years of Stalin, there were discussions in the Soviet Union about the administration of Crimea (which quickly turned into charges at show trials).
Admittedly, the Politburo members in general and Khrushchev, in particular, were not necessarily rational thinkers in hindsight. But assume, for a moment, they decide to make Crimea its own SSR. Perhaps they want a quick break from Stalinism, or somebody talks sense into Khrushchev.
How plausible is this? And it is plausible, how would it affect Eastern European politics after 1991?
Fact 2: One of the players in that history is Nikita Khrushchev, whose actions involving the region were out of affection for his native Ukraine.
Fact 3: During the later years of Stalin, there were discussions in the Soviet Union about the administration of Crimea (which quickly turned into charges at show trials).
Admittedly, the Politburo members in general and Khrushchev, in particular, were not necessarily rational thinkers in hindsight. But assume, for a moment, they decide to make Crimea its own SSR. Perhaps they want a quick break from Stalinism, or somebody talks sense into Khrushchev.
How plausible is this? And it is plausible, how would it affect Eastern European politics after 1991?