[mtrimpe]

Thanks for the response. It's a well-reasoned gem and I'm a wiser man for having read it.

In my mind the two are still categorically different, mainly due to the self-servingness and media contortions, but I agree that there's less factual differences than I thought before.

[vasac]

Well, I'm probably much more biased than I care to admit so someone else is probably a better speaker about Crimea than me. It's quite hard to get a good comprehension (and I really tried hard) of some events that happened in my immediate surrounding let alone a thousand kilometers away.

Common people stand no chance when mass media is skillfully deployed.