Crimea Was One of The Great Heroic Battles of WW2. The West Seems Ignorant of This

To control Crimea is to control the Black Sea.  Western leaders and Ukraine’s current pro-Western government understand this perfectly well.  It seems they entertained ideas of a NATO base in Sevastopol, right on the border with Russia, offering NATO ships almost unlimited control over the region and also an opportunity to neutralize the Russian Black Sea Fleet.  The return of Crimea to Russia dashed these plans.  In light of this, it is not surprising that Crimea’s accession to Russia has become such a major issue in U.S.-Russian relations.  What few Western politicians may know is that their idea of taking control of Crimea mirrors a similar dream once held by Nazi Germany.