"The president, Viktor Yanukovych, against whom the first small protest was organised, disappeared for seven days and eventually left his country. The democratically elected representatives of the people of Ukraine responded to fill the leadership vacuum created by Yanukovych's cowardice, organising a temporary, technocratic interim government and early, responsibly organised e******ns.

In April, that interim government will propose economic and political reforms that ensure a voice to each citizen of Ukraine. In May, the population of Ukraine will elect a new president with a mandate to build the future Ukraine that all of its people want.

first-hand account

Meanwhile, in Crimea, Russia has torn down and discarded the international legal order and thrown away the very notion of the rule of law. A forced, rushed, and illegal 'referendum', against the backdrop of a foreign military intervention, was used to justify a blatant land grab by a neighbouring country. That precedent cannot stand. Crimea is Ukraine. The border recognised in the Ukrainian constitution is the border of sovereign Ukraine. The world has not been fooled into believing that a referendum engineered by Russia somehow justifies what is simply a land grab by force."

The Ukraine is like Iraq. The only reason the U.S. has the slightest interest is Kiev's role in the gas and oil pipeline business.

The Ukraine and Russia have a long complicated relationship going back 800 years. In the 1990s they got a divorce after the USSR imploded. It remains a messy divorce with fighting over child custody (the Crimea). It is strictly none of our business.

How would the U.S. feel if Moscow joined Mexican maneuvers along our southern border?

There will always be border disputes on planet earth. Since WWII, our sticking our long noses in these types of disputes has resulted in disaster.

Exhibit A: Vietnam

The only Americans who gain from these fiascos are the folks who have huge defense contractor portfolios......the lovely chicken-hawk war pimps like Dick Cheney.

Thanks for the opinion Brian Devon but are you sure that the US is only interest is, "Kiev's role in gas and oil pipeline business"?

You know, the US doesn't import or export any fuel there.

If you want an explanation of what future cash cow is being lost by Russia, take a look at this article from January. Ukraine is going to be energy independent and chose the Netherlands, not a US company nor a Russian government authoritarian façade business as the one to share in the profits.

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/01/24/ukraine-set-to-sign-us10b-shale-gas-deal-with-shell/?__lsa=5a9f-ef38

But I'm sure that deal will be re-examined after the Ukraine e******ns. There's a tell that Yanucovych got gifts from it.

Ukraine energy independence hurts the Russian economy.

That's why it is so important for Russia to control the politics there but is also why Ukrainians died protesting Yanucovich.

I noticed you brought up the example of Iraq and Vietnam which is fine if the US was making a case for sending troops to war. Rather, this is simply a case where the US can and should use influence and power to let Ukraine be self determinant and independent of the political authority from Russia. Sort of like how France helped the American colonies sever ties with England whose had a financial incentive to keep the colonies in their control.

The U.S. is hardly above greasing the f****l f**l skids for our NATO allies. Let Russia and the Ukraine figure this one out for themselves. As far as the comparison with France, England, and the colonies, the Black Sea issues are not equivalent. France and England were not nuclear powers armed to the teeth with thousands of thermonuclear weapons. We don't need another Cuban missile crisis. Its already bad enough that both the U.S. and Russia have ICBMs, both land and submarine based, that are capable of ending all human life in both countries. On this one, it is time to put away a "Monroe Doctrine for Europe" playbook and borrow a page from the Swiss.

The U.S. is hardly above greasing the f****l f**l skids for our NATO allies. Let Russia and the Ukraine figure this one out for themselves. As far as the comparison with France, England, and the colonies, the Black Sea issues are not equivalent. France and England were not nuclear powers armed to the teeth with thousands of thermonuclear weapons. We don't need another Cuban missile crisis. Its already bad enough that both the U.S. and Russia have ICBMs, both land and submarine based, that are capable of ending all human life in both countries. On this one, it is time to put away a "Monroe Doctrine for Europe" playbook and borrow a page from the Swiss.

Which our rich compatriots will happily supply - for a price. That's the only reason we involved ourselves, after all, to get our guys onto the negotiating team. There are NO strategic or diplomatic concerns for the USA, there ARE, however, many lucrative opportunities for the folk who own the Gov.

We can expect many more examples of the rich directing foreign policy to enable themselves to get richer. They've been doing it for centuries, but now, thanks to the Supreme Court, they won't have to sneak to do it. Wouldn't it have been easier to go to war in Iraq because " they said so", instead of all the BS about WMD's? Things will be more clear from now on, about who is running the country. Right now, they still have us thinking that it makes a difference who is President or what party has majority. Finally, we'll be able to stop all that angst.

The whole thing is set up to benefit US oil companies and will only strip Ukraine of its natural resources. It will benefit the people as much as Shell, Chevron and Exxon Mobil have benefited us.
" Ukraine signed a $10 billion shale gas deal with US energy giant Chevron "that the ex-Soviet nation hopes could end its energy dependence on Russia by 2020." The agreement would allow "Chevron to explore the Olesky deposit in western Ukraine that Kiev estimates can hold 2.98 trillion cubic meters of gas." Similar deals had been struck already with Shell and ExxonMobil."
They do not like sharing with their host countries and don't think should have to. First thing that needs done is they should be charged for the energy that they pull out of the ground since it took millions of years to produce. They should not be getting away with only paying what it takes to extract the oil froom the ground. It is illogical.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/06/ukraine-crisis-great-power-oil-gas-rivals-pipelines