What Russian President Vladmir Putin said about Crimea crisis.

 Dear friends, we have gathered here today in connection with an issue that is of vital, historic significance to all of us. A referendum was held in Crimea on March 16 in full compliance with democratic procedures and international norms.
More than 82% of the electorate took part in the vote. Over 96% of them spoke out in favour of reuniting with Russia. These numbers speak for themselves.

 To understand the reason behind such a choice it is enough to know the history of Crimea and what Russia and Crimea have always meant for each other.

President Putin said the Crimea vote numbers "speak for themselves"

Everything in Crimea speaks of our shared history and pride. This is the location of ancient Khersones, where Prince Vladimir was baptised. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilisation and human values that unite the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The graves of Russian soldiers whose bravery brought Crimea into the Russian empire are also in Crimea.

This is also Sevastopol - a legendary city with an outstanding history, a fortress that serves as the birthplace of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Crimea is Balaklava and Kerch, Malakhov Kurgan and Sapun Ridge. Each one of these places is dear to our hearts, symbolising Russian military glory and outstanding valour.

Crimea is a unique blend of different peoples' cultures and traditions. This makes it similar to Russia as a whole, where not a single ethnic group has been lost over the centuries. Russians and Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and people of other ethnic groups have lived side by side in Crimea, retaining their own identity, traditions, languages and faith.

Incidentally, the total population of the Crimean peninsula today is 2.2 million people, of whom almost 1.5 million are Russians, 350,000 are Ukrainians who predominantly consider Russian their native language, and about 290,000-300,000 are Crimean Tatars, who, as the referendum has shown, also lean towards Russia. more here

Personal facts about Adam Lanza

The house of Adam Lanza and family. picture by examiner.

"Former classmates of Adam Lanza, 20, the man identified as the gunman in the Sandy Hook School killings, do not remember much about him.They talk of a boy who dressed smartly and worked hard, but who barely said a word during his time at school.Lanza appears to have kept a low profile throughout his life. US media report that unusually, his high school yearbook of 2010 contained no photograph of him."[BBC]

"He carried a black briefcase to his 10th-grade honors English class, and sat near the door so he could readily slip in and out. When called upon, he was intelligent, but nervous and fidgety, spitting his words out, as if having to speak up were painful. Pale, tall and scrawny, Adam Lanza walked through high school in Newtown, Conn., with his hands glued to his sides, the pens in the pocket of his short-sleeve, button-down shirts among the few things that his classmates recalled about him." [NYTimes]

"If that boy would've burned himself, he would not have known it or felt it physically," Novia told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "It was my job to pay close attention to that." [HuffingtonPost]

"In the desperate scramble to name the perpetrator who forced his way into a Connecticut school on Friday and shot dead 20 children, the family and friends of the Lanza family were rooted out through their social media pages and old-fashioned door knocking, with even 20-year-old Lanza's father, Peter, hearing about the shootings from a local paper reporter as he drove home."[Guardian]

"He was a 20-year-old man who, by multiple accounts, was incredibly smart and quiet. He didn't appear to have any run-ins with the law.

But Adam Lanza's seemingly innocuous life was thrust into the spotlight when authorities said he perpetrated the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

On Friday morning, Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, dressed in black battle fatigues and a military vest" and began firing, according to a law enforcement source. By the time he was done, 26 were dead -- 20 of them young students." [CNN]

"Friday's massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, the second-deadliest shooting event in United States history, has sent shock waves well beyond the country's borders. During his shooting spree, 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 27 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School before turning the gun on himself. Most of the victims of the mass shooting, including 20 children, mostly kindergartners, and six school employees, were found in two classrooms. The shooter also killed his mother." [Spiegel]

"Who was Adam Lanza, why did he kill 20 innocent children, and how is it possible that one 20-year-old can inflict so much pain in the world? If Adam Lanza’s last actions mirror who Adam Lanza was, then he was a young man who had a troubled relationship with his mother, with children, and, most importantly, with himself. According to a Dec. 15, 2012, AP News Brief, Adam Lanza’s former school adviser remembers Adam Lanza as “awkward loner who had trouble feeling pain.” [Examiner]