Hopefully some kind of agreement can be made. Ukraine needs to trade with Russia, and a deal could have been made a long time ago without any need for a Russian invasion.
The problem is that irrationality, impunity, and ridiculous propaganda is supported in Russia. That is why the country has such a problem with corruption, and why they make such terrible decisions like they have in Crimea.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/03/ukraine-putin-tv-and-the-big-lie-104261.html#.UxtpZWeYa01
But all that is a far cry from Nazis taking over Kiev, an image now being stamped into the brains of Russian and East Ukrainian audiences 24 hours a day on Kremlin mouthpieces from television to newspapers, websites to official statements. Never mind that Kiev’s pro-democracy movement was overwhelmingly liberal, tolerant and, toward the end of it, increasingly Russian-speaking: to Putin’s propaganda machine, it’s all an American and European plot to destabilize Russia and turn the Russian people into slaves of the West...
This is how Markov justifies the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in an interview with one of Russia’s most popular tabloids, Komsomolskaya Pravda: “Had Russia failed to interfere, Crimea would have come under pressure from police forces controlled by radicals and from neo-Nazi militants. Within a month, they would have established their government in Crimea and within one or two years they would have driven out almost all Russians.”
Having explained the horrors awaiting his Russian audience, Markov reaches a crescendo. “Crimea is not their main target, they really don’t care about it,” he continues. “Their main goal is to turn Ukraine into an anti-Russia within three years, install a Kiev version of [former Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili as president and then to start a rebellion in Russia proper.”
“Had Putin failed to request permission [from parliament] to use force [in Ukraine], NATO would have gone much further than Rostov and Kursk—it would have been in Moscow. The goal of those who staged a coup d’etat in Kiev is to bring the likes of [Russian opposition leaders] Nemtsov and Navalny to power in Moscow. Russia would have been simply carved up,”
Sure, that may seem crazy to the rest of the world, but there are people who actually buy into it. A lot of people.
In Ukraine, Putin's pride was hurt, so he invaded the country, where he is still holding people hostage at gunpoint. He than set up a puppet regional government, and had that puppet government declare the area a new part of the invading force's country.
Obviously, that is not a situation that would hold up internationally, but Putin is not accustomed to having to answer serious questions. In Russia, in response to a serious problem of corruption, his response is to put those who protest against it in jail, like
Alexei Navalny. With a little ridiculous propaganda, his lap dogs give him a free pass again.
In Ukraine, a serious dialogue could have easily fixed the situation, but Putin does not have a history of rationally handling situation like that. Protesters who disapproved of the intense corruption of the previous Russian puppet regime were subjected to a violent crackdown and more ridiculous propaganda. According to the Russian propaganda machine, they were
"worse than Nazis."
Obviously some kind of solution has to be made, and hopefully cooler heads in Russia will convince Putin to get back in touch with reality in this case. It is in everyone's interests to reach a solution. Many Ukrainians, including those in Crimea are not going to accept a Russian military takeover.
Tensions Remain High in Crimea Amid Renewed Effort to Mediate
After days of pro-Russian protests in Crimea, supporters of the new government in Kiev also rallied in the regional capital, Simferopol, confronting Russian demonstrators and volunteer militiamen. The rival protests showed that support for seceding from Ukraine is not universal in the region.
Several hundred men and women, carrying Ukrainian flags and blue and yellow flower-shaped balloons, marched through the city’s center to deliver tulips to Ukrainian troops in celebration of Women’s Day. At the base, two female soldiers came out to meet the demonstrators who handed them flowers and chanted “Crimea is Ukraine.”
“I don’t want to live in Russia,” said Igor Klimenko, who took part in the demonstration. “Russia is not a free country — in Russia I can’t come out here and express myself like this.”
In Bakhchysarai, the historic center of what was once the Crimean Tartars’ homeland, several hundred protesters, mostly Tatar women and children, marched against integration with Russia, waving Ukrainian and Tatar flags, and chanting “We’re for peace,” “Ukraine is inseparable,” and “Russian soldiers, go home!”
