I can see that these Crimeans are greatly distressed after voting to join Russia.
Yes indeed, they do, and two weeks ago there was an election in North Korea where THE candidate Kim Jong Un received 100% votes, and to which information you will predictably respond with a "that's different"!
I can see that these Crimeans are greatly distressed after voting to join Russia.
The same Crimeans voted in Ukraine for last 20 years since Ukraine gained independence. Did they suddenly become brainwashed Communists, like in NK? Or, perhaps, if they vote wrong they would be taken out back and shot? I haven't read such reports, sorry...
The best thing to do here is to accept that Crimea was a Russian land since Catherine the Great:
Catherine annexed the Crimea in 1783, nine years after the Crimean Khanate had gained nominal independence—which had been guaranteed by Russia—from the Ottoman Empire as a result of her first war against the Turks. The palace of the Crimean khans passed into the hands of the Russians. In 1786 Catherine conducted a triumphal procession in the Crimea, which helped provoke the next Russo–Turkish War.The Ottomans restarted hostilities in the second Russo-Turkish War (1787–92). This war, catastrophic for the Ottomans, ended with the Treaty of Jassy (1792), which legitimised the Russian claim to the Crimea and granted the Yedisan region to Russia.
It does not befit an old, established democracy (such as the USA) to pick and choose what groups of people are or are not free enough, smart or not smart enough to vote in their own democratic processes. The best one can do is to send observers. Crimea invited observers to come. EU said "you have no right for this vote" and sent no one. Imagine that. Selective democracy at its best - "the vote is legitimate only when I like the results." True democracy, like justice, must be blind. If North Koreans want to vote this way instead of revolting against their leaders, it's sad - but, ultimately, it's their right. It was equally sad to see how the US voters voted for Obama, twice. It was sad... but that's how democracy works, whether you like the outcome or not. Nothing else would be fair.