What does any of this have to do with Iraqi Kurdistan holding a referendum that voted in favour of independence from Iraq? Why is it that you don't accept Kurdish independence but will accept the "independence" of obvious puppet states?
But if you're going to take this route, why didn't the Autonomous Republic of Crimea ask for greater autonomy within Ukraine instead of holding a referendum that was deemed illegal by the Ukrainian courts? Wouldn't that have been good for peace and the Ukrainian economy as a whole?
One problem about a possible independence of Iraqi Kurdistan (from what I understand) is that Iraqi Kurdistan has a lot of oil, while Iraq is very poor, courtesy of U.S. invasion. There is also some concern about local minorities (Arab minorities, in particular).
I don't think that independence should be granted automatically after a referendum approving it (context does matter). It should be more a last resort, people should first try to get along, to cooperate. There is always a danger that rich regions want to take their independence, while poor regions are left alone, facing even greater poverty.
In addition, there has been some collaboration between Iraqi Kurds and the central government of Iraq to fight the Islamic State. The relations may therefore not be as bad as in Ukraine, when a civil war has been taking place since 2014.
I don't see any benefit in restoring Ukrainian sovereignty on Crimea (though one can say that there is some geographical logic in this): they speak a different language, Ukraine has a history of trying to impose its own language, the referendum has shown strong support for joining Russia, Crimea is by no means essential for the Ukrainian economy, they are now fighting a very violent war, Ukraine has imposed a number of "sanctions", cutting off for example the supply of fresh water through the North Crimean canal in 2014. How can you like a government which suddenly cuts off 85% of your fresh water, for political reasons, because it cannot stand that you leave?
In addition, Crimea has a history of being part of Russia for a long time.
On the other hand, accepting the results of the 2014 referendum (and the annexation) would have probably have great benefits for Ukraine (and affordable energy needing Western Europe), which, partly manipulated by the US-UK-EU axis is being gradually destroyed by the war, on its way to become the next Afghanistan, because such an acceptance could help stopping the current war.
In addition, the decision to join Russia could always be reversed later, we don't know what will happen in a century. It is possible that, in a few years' time, Crimeans will get weary of the lack of democracy in Russia, and of the dubious actions of its "security services", and will want to become closer to Western Europe. It is not impossible that the Russian Federation might one day disintegrate the way the Soviet Union did.
