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It may be a delusion that if you just make separate countries (Russian minority in one, more predominantly Ukrainian in another), things will be better.

I am not so sure, for several reasons. First, there will assuredly be no agreement on the division: there will be a border problem. Second, the people will not be separated perfectly: many probably do not wish to move, just to be in a pure country. Some are intermarried, and have jobs and friends, and property which they would not like to abandon.

But finally, a separation means giving up on learning to live together in a civilized manner. If you can’t even live with your neighbors within one country, how is it possible that you will not in a short time be waging war on those same people who are now in another country?

Look, the Russians under Putin can’t keep from invading their neighbors. They are more of a threat to Ukrainians than are the Russians living in eastern Ukraine. These people have to learn to live together.

It may sound impossible to expect slightly different people to be nice to each other within the same country, but one must start somewhere. And a rump Ukraine is not as viable as one with the geographic variety found within its present borders.

Ukraine is much poorer than it should be. It has land and climate perfect for agriculture, and should be like several Iowas. Unfortunately, Stalin did his best to exterminate the best farmers in his collectivization drive. Then came WWII. Then communism for yet another 45 years or so. Is it any wonder that their political system is a mess? They need some peace, and they need outside connections to the West, and they need freedom from Russia.

And Russia needs to learn to live peacefully with its neighbors. They have never learned this lesson. There is no country on the borders of Russia which has not been invaded by them at some time in the last century. And they border on quite a few countries. Even if they had a border with Switzerland, they would probably be invading the Swiss.