[Mike Darancette]

At the risk of sounding (gasp!) Wilsonian, what's wrong with countenancing the self-determination of peoples?

The government offices of the Oblasts the Russians want to steal have been captured by Russian troops. What type of self determination does that allow? The Majority Ukrainian populations will be suppressed if not cleansed.

[nathanbedford]

We were talking Crimea (large majority Russian as opposed to Ukrainian) and Eastern Ukraine, also majority Russian. You are conflating Western Ukraine with its majority Ukrainian population.

Do I believe that 96% of Crimea voted to join Russia? Of course not but I do believe that the majority did. I have no idea how the majority will vote in eastern Ukraine but if they have a fair and honest election which opts for Russia so be it even if it is one man, one vote, one time.