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[Bucky]

81. You gotta understand the history, however.

Crimea was and is 2/3rds ethnic Russian. It had only been reassigned to Ukraine as an administrative district in the 1950s under Khrushchev as an internal political maneuver (and it was then ethnically Russian already). Ukrainians were powerful players in the Communist Party. 13 years later they were critical to shifting power from the Khrushchev to the Brezhnev factions of the Party. Crimea was a buy-off. Historically it'd been Russian. And without it, Russia would have been choked off from the Black Sea. Russian control of it makes more sense than, say, British control of Gibralter or American control of Guantanamo.

Imperial powers are gonna imperiate. Interfering in Russia's access to the Black Sea would only fuel a bigger conflict down the pike. It's not terribly respectful of the locals' desire to self-determine (at least among the non-Russian minority) but Americans have been so in control of our borders for so long, I don't think we appreciate the importance of allowing regional powers in Eurasia to have the benefit of stable borders. It actually serves our long term interests to let Russia hold a secure position.