Except that we’re not talking about “everybody.” We’re talking about a nation, named Ukraine, who mostly wish to be independent (especially from the Russians who starved on purpose about ten million Ukrainians in the 1930s and who have historically bullied them), aligned with Europe, democratic, and ruled by laws. Putin is not the person who should decide Ukraine’s fate. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that you do not agree that Ukrainians have the same right to choose their fate as say, Brits, Germans, and Americans. But Ukrainians think they have that right. Basic human rights are for those who want them. Putin’s treatment is for those who want a former KGB Colonel calling the shots and dumbed down FReepers who don’t know the real principle of conservatism or care about other human beings.
They were/are independent...but they are also a nation where many still hold strong ties to Russia. When there is such a wide disparity of loyalties amongst a populace, the best thing is to arrange a ‘Velvet Divorce’, as the Czechs and Slovaks did.
There have been plenty of opportunities to do this.......However, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum was a Cluster-You-Know-What of huge proportions that virtually guaranteed this day would eventually come.