A crisis in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine two years ago, is developing with a speed that is alarming even for this volatile part of the world. Amid the U.S. presidential campaign, Brexit, and the Islamic State's terror attacks, many in the West might be tempted to dismiss the latest escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine as little more than a local squabble. They would be wrong. The dispute over Crimea pits Ukraine - a US ally - directly against Russia. And the Kremlin, with the world's largest stockpile of nuclear warheads, is in no mood to back down.
Vocativ: Crimea’s spiraling crisis is the whole world’s problem
Pro Russian protesters and Russian soldiers storm a Ukrainian military air base in the small city of Belbek near the Crimean city of Sevastopol on March 22, 2014.
