Its easier to control many small countries than it is one large one. Crimea is kind of an outlier in that sense.
I don’t know about that...
The left/right, Dem/Repub dualist system is easier for the elite to control than if the Repub and Dem party both split up and we ended up with say 5 or 6 parties: a Tea Party, a barely center-right party, a Uber-Progressive Party, the center-left Dem Party, a Libertarian Party, etc.
Much harder for the elite to control in that sense. Perhaps the same holds true in other areas.