A fair agreement should be easy. The Russians control the area at present and the UN should send in observers to assure that voting procedures are fairly done. If the people want to be an independent state, or to join Russia, or to stay in Ukraine, let it happen. If they choose Russia, then Russia should pay expenses of anyone that wants to relocate to Ukraine.

I wish this procedure could happen in any of the 50 states. Maybe at least one would choose independence, and then there might be a place for objectivists.

I think we were attempting to control the outcome. We didn't need to throw rocks at the hornets nest to get things going as the government there was corrupt enough to get the peoples attention. As for Crimea Russia is definitely protecting its interests.. Those being black sea Naval facilities built heck starting with the Czar then built more by the Soviets. Russia likes having ports that are not iced over for a chunk of every year. It goes beyond even that since Russian retirees kind of look at Crimea like New York retirees look at Florida. So, the Russians are stuck needing to make an excuse, and they have one.. The Crimea is mostly ethnic Russians. So Russia can claim they are worried about ethnic cleansing. Of course this does beg the question about what happened to the Ukrainians who used to live there. Now, as for the State Department being very able to steer a revolt in Ukraine.. Hell no, they lack the required competency and are also suffering from a serious case of not having any idea whats actually going on there. Especially since it really looks like Yulia Tymoshenko is on her way back to power. At least after she gets her back fixed.. I am also pretty sure that she is not one to let a few slipped disks get in the way of her view of a very independent Ukraine. While she is really not pro Russia ( except for doing actual business ) She is also not really all that much Pro US or Pro EU. She is very notably Pro Ukraine and more importantly pro Rule of Law. In the meantime we need to try to keep our hands off the mess as I said the State Department has no idea how to deal with things in that region. As our state Department is at a total loss pretty much anywhere east of Berlin or Vienna till we get to Japan.. As for what we would do.. There is a Democrat in charge, we would have probably nuked something by now.

We (the EU, NATO and the US) could stop him. The risk of WW III breaking out is relatively low (less than 25% in my estimate). If we don't just consider what happened with Hitler and the Czechoslovakian issue in 1938.