As stated by iroseland below, Ukraine is an immensely complex topic.

Here, IMHO, is an additional fly in the soup.

The main stream press is spewing theories and guesses about Putin’s motives regarding Ukraine, but
they are not telling us the whole story because of political correctness. They don't tell us about the Islamic angle. In reality, I don’t believe Putin is trying to rebuild the old Soviet Union as some would have us believe. The media gives Obama a pass and the Obama administration policy seems to always be on the side of Islam (foreign or domestic). Keep in mind the Russians have been fighting the Mohamadans for centuries and the 20th and 21st centuries are no exception. The Crimea is a strategic trade route through the under belly of Russia and they cannot allow the region to be dominated by Islam. Under the old Soviet Union, the Muslim population was pushed out of the Crimea and was replaced by Russians. This eliminated the Islamic threat to Russia's trade to the Black Sea (bad enough, from a Russian point of view, the Turks are in control of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus). Under recent Ukrainian rule the Muslims were moving back into the Crimea in large numbers making it uneasy for the Russians (keep in mind the anti-Russian demonstrations in Ukraine had a large militant Muslim component). Although Ukraine needed to stay friendly with Russia, they adopted western PC to be more acceptable to the EU and US and did nothing to stop Muslim immigration to the region. Well, Putin pretty much tells the west to shove PC up its a** and will NEVER allow Islamic rule of the Crimea. This is why, IMHO, the Russians got involved in Chechnya, Georgia, and Afghanistan. Only three nations in the world are truly standing up to the spread of Islam: Russia, China, and India. The western nations, including the US, have virtually surrendered due to PC. Yeah, Russia and China are not our best friends and India is sometimes questionable, but they know Islam is bad news and are at least fighting it.

It's a tough call for the Russians because they can't fight us and the Muslims at the same time. They learned that fact in Afghanistan. If Obama gets the US involved over there, it won't be because of a "Free Ukraine", which is the lie he will feed the American People. It will be to weaken the Russians enough to hand over the Crimea to Islam. At the same time, expansion of Islam requires the crushing of Russia.

Can't seem to edit last post but circumspectnews has youtube links to a fascinating series- look up "BLOC HEADS"

If its close to the relationship between New York and Florida ... most Floridians wish the New Yorkers would not visit Fl.

(Ive visited Yalta and you are right, it is a destination vacation area for Russians AND Ukrainians)

The US and Europe should not allow Putin to get away with his land grab. Wasn't he trying to do this in Georgia recently?

The countries attitude may be "We survived being in the USSR, we can survive being part of Russia". On the other hand they nay say "NFW we going back under those SOBs" and fight until they can't fight anymore.
If it were me, I'd fight.