Joe. Calm down.Let us look at the facts. But which facts? The West supported an unconstitutional putsch against an elected government perpetrated, among others, by fascist/neo-nazi storm troopers (Svoboda, Right Sector) guided by US intelligence. The first act of this illegitimate government was to prohibit the Russian language and appoint two billionaire oligarchs – one who runs his business from Switzerland – to be the new governors of the eastern cities of Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk. Fearing persecution, the majority of Russian speakers in Eastern and South Ukraine appealed to Russia for help.
Still examining only facts , if you employ a wider perspective, you arrive at a totally different account to yours. After the Cold War, Russia carried out its side of the bargain and disbanded the Warsaw Pact, but contrary to undertakings given at the time, the US and its allies have since relentlessly expanded NATO up to Russia's borders, incorporating nine former Warsaw Pact states and three former Soviet republics into what is effectively an anti-Russian military alliance in Europe. The European association agreement which provoked the Ukrainian crisis also included clauses to integrate Ukraine into the EU defence structure. With national security threatened by encirclement, Russia intervened to protect the Black Sea fleet.
Joe, as for your references to Spain and the British Empire , that is empty rhetoric. Shrode throws red herrings, not arguments.
Joe, my sympathy is with the Ukrainians and Russians who suffer corruption and the greed of oligarchs

Also Putin is ahead in the PR soft power struggle over Crimea.

Noting Putin looks like our own Abbott - unfortunately.

Only difference being Putin has never been known to smile while our own Abbott fakes it.

Poyda

One point that is overlooked in the debate over the ousting of the Yanukovych Government is its total incompetence. Blatant corruption, cronyism and just plain ignorance was driving the country into the ground, and when Yanukovych looked like he was turning away from the EU, which for many Ukrainians represented the only hope of a path from disaster, the people said enough. The same pattern was followed in Egypt; Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood simply did not have the skills to run the country and they had to go before the damage they did became irreparable. Those who complain about the overthrow of democratically elected governments are using western standards of checks and balances which simply do not exist in countries which are still coming to grips with the democratic experiment.

We all got sucked into Bosnia, the UN, the ethnic cleansing and behind it all was the small but very rich reserves of Iridium, & Platinum up in them thar hills near the borders back and beyond by Slovenia.

Not that the big boys. IBM, Raytheon and not forgetting Nokia, Siemens and the crew were backing the players to get control. Pity there weren't the same elements to be found in the hills of Syria...maybe the Assad regime would be long gone from there now.

Graham. Your plausible interpretation is conclusive evidence of the point I was trying to establish. Your facts do not include the planning and massive intervention by Poland, US and other “democracies”. QED.

And Graham , by the by, while I find Morsi as detestable as Yanukovych, you inadvertently prove my point again by referring to “the same pattern”, which is true only if you include the outside interference of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. QED.