But Crimea was part of Russia since before America was a country until 1954, when Khrushchev moved it. A large majority of Crimeans would rather be part of Russia.
Look at how the USA expanded.
Was that evil too?
Your history of Crimea is probably right. I’m not here to say it being part of the Ukraine is right or has to remain that way, but I am here to say that there are ways international disputes like this are resolved through peaceful legitimate means, and this wasn’t one of them.
This was an act of war, IMO.
If we have a dispute with Mexico, does it waltz in claim U.S. Territory, call a special election in a week or so, conduct that election, tabulate the vote, and announce those who voted decided to join Mexico by close to 100%? Would we buy into that? Of course not. It is not legitimate to accept what Russia did. It is legitimate to object stridently.
Yes, the U.S. did expand. It did it in major ways, with the Louisiana purchase, and the war and subsequent purchase of the Mid-West and Western parts of the United States.
Was it’s treatment of the native Americans on the up and up? Many of them died from diseases brought over from Europe. More of them died as a result of our expansion. I think there is a legitimate issue to be raised here. The question is, are the two comparable? Are the circumstances equal? Were the two societies relatively equal? Was the United States violating international law at the time? Was what it as doing more or less how things were done in the day?
International norms have changed. If the U.S. were adding land today in the manner it did back then, I would object stridently.
Is Russia taking over a civilization that is far inferior, and territory that is sparsely populated? Is what it did acceptable international behavior for the 21st Century? I don’t believe so.
As for whether the U.S. expansion in it’s first century, some of it was reasoned. Some of it probably was evil. I’m not here to judge the rest of the world by that standard, because we are not operating in that world any longer.