I agree. So where was Putin’s “permission” to invade and annex a portion of Ukraine? You brought-up Libya, so let’s hear it.
Nazi coup. When a coup hits, anyone can grab anything. The coup doesn’t get some natural right to everything the old government held.
Locals in the east didn’t want to go along and essentially held their own coup and called for help.
As for Crimea, the Russians have had a navy base there since the 1790s so they kinda invaded where they already were. They were about as likely to let Sevastopol become a NATO base as we would be to let them take Norfolk.
I know you don’t agree, but that’s my take.
Not to get involved in your dustup, as I am trying to get hard information in the rest of this thread -- but I'd suggest Putin's "permission" to invade and annex a portion of the Ukraine was ultimately due to whatever autof*llatory pig-f*cker persuaded the Ukraine to give up their nukes...