We can't do to Sabah what Vladimir Putin did to Crimea

We can't do to Sabah what 
Vladimir Putin did to Crimea 

"If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it." JULIUS CAESAR

By Alex P. Vidal

We own Sabah, there's no doubt about that. But we have no jurisdiction over this large territory located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. Malaysia controls it. 
Efforts to convince Malaysia to give Sabah back to Filipinos invoking an age-old edict proved futile. Lives have lost in daring attempts to recapture "The Land Below The Wind". 
Past Philippine presidents, including current Pres. Noynoy Aquino, blinked at Malaysia's superior military power. 
KGB-turned-Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the Autonomous Republic of Crimea with a splendid and bloodless blitzkrieg that had the entire world on its feet.
Sochi Winter Games placed Russia on the map for two weeks. Putin sustained the global attention with a swift and unparalleled annexation of Crimea.  

CONDEMNED

Putin's act has been widely condemned by the United States, Canada, Britain and other allied countries even as they stepped up pressures on Putin to withdraw the Russian forces now mushrooming in the peninsula located on the northern coast of the Black Sea. No signs for gutsy Putin to backtrack as of press time. 
U.S., et al ribbed Putin's military intervention on ground that the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous parliamentary republic within Ukraine and is governed by the Constitution of Crimea in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, not of Russia.
Russian-speaking Crimea was ruled by the Russian Empire in the 18th to 20th centuries and is the only remaining bastion of Russia in the unitary Ukraine state.

EMULATE

Philippine leaders can't emulate Putin's act. Demographically, it's impossible for the Filipinos to marshal their forces on the mountainous Malaysian state, which shares a border with the province of North Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south. 
We pale in comparison to Malaysia numerically and logistically and our military forces are David to Malaysia's Goliath. Invasion by sea and air would be a neurotic idea unless the purpose is hara kiri.
With weakling leaders and a government not inclined to wage war beyond diplomatic means, the Philippines is the one being slowly sliced down and reduced to smithereens by bullies like China and Malaysia. If we can't protect our own islets and territorial waters from Chinese invaders, we can't reclaim our vast islands now in the stronghold of our hooligan neighbors in Asia.
Ukraine is Russia's border to the east and rolling down to Crimea Putin's deadliest weaponry that included the world's strongest nuclear bomb was a relative ease. 

CAPTURE

In the blink of an eye, Russia captured Crimea without any bloodshed. No single life was wasted in the grand attack. A walk in the park, to say the least. 
Never mind that in the eyes of the world, Putin is rascal. Russia has shown that its leader is hell-bent to protect Russian interests and citizens as the primary reason why it invaded Ukraine.
As long as Sabah is under Malaysia, we can't throw the books on Malaysian thugs who exploit, abuse and harass our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Kota Kinabalu and its environs. We watch helplessly as Malaysian authorities round up and deport overstaying Filipinos who are stripped of basic rights and subjected to indignities in the land that actually belong to them.