Alciete HarlessTeacher ClassDate The speech delivered by Russian President Vladimir Putin from the Moscow Kremlin on March 18, 2014 is now called "Putin's Speech on Crimea". In his speech, Putin justifies the annexation of Crimea from Ukrainian control to that of the Russian Federation. The designated target audience was members of the Federation Council, deputies of the State Duma, Russian citizens, residents of Crimea and Sevastopol, the United States and European countries. Although the designated audience was included in his target audience, it was the anonymous audience that most of President Putin's rhetoric was directed at. President Putin clearly stated that this is an internal issue that is not yet cemented when he addresses them all in the open calling them friends. He said: “Dear friends, we are gathered here today on an issue of vital historical importance to us all. This once again affirms that this is their problem and no one else should be involved or concerned. However, when he states: “A referendum took place in Crimea on March 16 in full compliance with democratic procedures and international standards.” He addresses the world simply by using the phrase “international standards,” while appealing to Western ideals by referring to the democratic processes by which Crimean citizens chose to leave Ukraine. A counterexample that could be given for an American to truly identify with this would be if Texas wanted to return to Mexican control and voted to do so, and then the Mexican government called in its military to enforce that decision. President Putin then adds further legitimacy by claiming that "more than 82 percent of the electorate took part in the vote." and of these, 96 percent were in China. You could say: “My ancestors belonged to a tribe that lived here ten thousand years ago and therefore must have been under the control of these peoples. In other words, should a limitation period be rationally taken into account? The answer to this question is for others, but the rhetoric used by President Putin is convincing to his audience. The injustice against the people of Crimea, President Putin suggests, has been made even more shocking by the abruptness of the changes where, as he puts it, "millions of people went to bed in one country and woke up in different countries, becoming ethnic minorities in the old country overnight.” federated republics, while the Russian nation has become one of the largest, if not the largest ethnic group in the world divided by borders. We can all imagine the shock we would face if we too woke up one day and another country controlled our destiny and we belonged to a new minority class. It was such a call that he envisaged in his