[leot]

Dude. Russia is annexing by duplicitous force parts of a neighboring country. Full stop. There is no way to spin that as OK.

[venomsnake]

Crimea annexation was an act of self defense. The US wanted to rent the Ukrainian naval base in Crimea next to the Russian one.

[claudius]

I recall some treaties in the early 90s guaranteeing Ukraine’s territorial integrity in return for it returning Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia.

Maybe the French still want to share theirs with us, now that these treaties are obviously no longer relevant :)

[darthgoogle]

1. The legitimate government of Ukraine was overthrown in a violent coup. It was not legal. http://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/2849/was-the-cha...

2. Subsequently, people in the already autonomous region of Crimea, ethnically/culturally/historically Russian, had a referendum to break-away from Ukraine and then join Russia - especially after the new coup leaders decided to ban use of the Russian language.

Check your facts, dude.

[bzbarsky]

Fact-checking is good, yes. Start with http://www.examiner.com/list/russia-s-top-20-lies-about-ukra... and http://www.examiner.com/list/russia-s-top-40-lies-about-ukra...

I've been following the Russian news somewhat and my parents have been talking to friends/relatives in both Ukraine an Russia, and the amount of outright invention in the official Russian media has been quite impressive.

[gkoz]

You forgot illegal use of the Russian armed forces in Crimea denied at the time but admitted later. Oh, and banning the use of the Russian language was completely invented by Russian TV.