Crimea in Context.

(off the cuff)
So Ukraine has a sort of Revolution...again....and suddenly the Geopolitical Situation has reverted to Mean (Confusion)...and the Ahistoricity of the American People, and their media and policy institutions is on full display.
Maddow is on it, as usual, with a near comprehensive overview of Ukrainian History, back to 1954, when Krutchev *“gave” Crimea to Ukraine.(* I will unashamedly spell all the Russian names and words wrong)
Rachel is missing a lot of things, though...which I'll get to in a minute.
The Right, however, is still in thrall to hormones, it seems...the Mancrush on Putin(a real Dictator,lol), is on full display. Rudy “911!” Guliani, Marco Rubio, Krathammer, all the usual suspects...falling over themselves to pine for Putinesque “Leadership”. ...saying, essentially, that our President(whom they often accuse of “Dictatorship”, of being a “King”, an “Autocrat”) is a Pussy, because The Shirtless One is a Real Man, and a Real Leader.
Such is American Righty Rhetoric, during the Age of Obama.(sigh)
(Remember, Action over Thought is a hallmark of Protofascism...just saying)
Meanwhile, Ukraine is in turmoil.
Pro European Union vs. ProRussian.
It's confusing, of course, because it's the former Soviet Union.
It appears that this is a continuation of a Ukrainian Civil War/Revolution(see: Euromaidan)...in which many in Ukraine want to further separate from Russian influence, and become, essentially, European(echos, which I'll also get to).
But there's a bunch of others who don't want this, and want to remain a Russian Client.
Crimea is a hotbed of ProRussian sentiment...around 60% of the population of Crimea is Russian...and Russia maintains a warmwater port there, as well as the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, at Sevastopol, and elsewhere in the area.
This has been going on since the collapse of the USSR, in 91-92...but it has historical tendrils reaching back centuries.
Crimea has been basically Russian for a very long time...the Russians claim it, sometimes overtly, sometimes tacitly, as the political situation warrants.
Were I king of the world, I'd consider giving Crimea to Russia, and being done with all of this mess...but it ain't that simple.
A feature of Russian history, and of the Russian Mindset, since at least Peter the Great, is a deep psychological need to be regarded as either a part of European Civilisation, or at least as on par with that Civilisation. For that whole period, Russia has been thought of as the Hillbilly Cousin of Europe...a backwards and crosseyed place, hopelessly unibrowed. The Appalachia of Europe.
This sentiment, and the resentment it causes in the upper classes, and even the pseudo middle classes of Russia is essential to understanding the history of the entire region.
It's the reason Putin, and his “I vill hunt bear with my teeth” posturing, is so popular...it's the reason he's gotten away with hanging on to power for so long.
It's also the reason behind the belligerent attitude of the Soviets, and of the Tsars, before...chest thumping...what anthropologists might call “Territorial Display”...similar to “little man syndrome” in psychology.
Add to this psychological/emotional mix the strategic need for a Warm Water Port...and the long term Ethnic Russian Majority in the Crimea...and there's the root.
I've seen nothing of all of this in the media.
The EU is limited in it's response matrix, due to it's dependence on Gazprom.
The US is limited by the stupidity and craziness of it's Right Wing....as well as the lingering distrust and lies and duplicity, left over from the Cold War.
The UN may have a chance at brokering a settlement, but I doubt it...would that the UN had a little more functionality,lol.
At root, I think that Russia saw in the latest unrest in Ukraine;1. An opportunity to take back Crimea,for psychology's sake, and 2. a strategic and economic need, backed up by history and ethnic makeup, to defend it's main Warm Water Port, as well as the substantial Military infrastructure in Crimea.
I'd like to see a peaceful resolution...but I do not expect one.

Too, the shameful display of everyone from Lindsey Graham to McCain(who should both know better) to the Shouters and Mouthbreathers in the Right Wing Media, would be cause for our own Revolution, if it were the American Left making such stupid and radical statements.
Pat Buchannan, especially, should apologize, and return to under his rock.