NATO bombing. We drop a bomb and leave, we don't see where they land. That's modern warfare. Those are real people in the war zones, it's not cut and dried or ideological to them at all. It's personal, and they don't forget.
They said atrocities against the Orthodox Christian religionists in the region occured, that they were not allowed to continue to be Christians under the new government. Their houses of worship were burned down. And that criminal gangs killed people for organ harvesting. This kind of thing happens in war zones, all kinds of uncivil and barbarity, that Americans have not really seen at home. It's a very dangerous world at times.
They were shot at by snipers in Ossetia before Russian tanks arrived, which they saw as a rescue. They also don't blame Americans as a whole, just think we have been woefully misinformed. I might add after a while they sounded like they had been listening to Infowars, and Alex Jones is on RT. They think they are well informed, just like we think that we are.
That is all just anecdotal, and I only bring it up as I see things more in human terms and less in ideology. I found it very interesting in one of the articles I found at your links, that the people at the Crimean orphanage for disabled people were looking forward to better conditions for themselves and their charges, no doubt, under Russian rule than Ukrainian. One of the links showed that Russia lost money from the turmoil in Ukraine, and a thread here a short time back with the BBC said that during the Maidan that over half a million people crossed into Russia from the Ukraine to escape trouble. And the Russians had to absorb them all. This is also a common feature in war times, refugees.
I understand the ideological and political reasoning behind what Obama is doing, and don't ascribe the heart of darkness to any one side, nor necessarily some kind of incompetence or malevolence. I just know I would not want to be living there or having to make any of these decisions. And I support Obama for doing the best thing he can in the environment he is working in nationally and elsewhere.