What American politicos seem to conveniently ignore in the posturing over the Crimean separation is the simple truth that an elected Ukrainian president--regardless of how unpopular he is with a segment of the population--formally requested the aid of Russia in restoring his government that was deposed February 22nd after months of violent street protests. Russian intervention could then hardly be said to be inconsistent with international law, unless American officials are making a preposterous claim that Yanukovich made the request for intervention under duress. No doubt Viktor Yanukovich is Moscow's client, but he was put into power after an election that was internationally monitored and declared to be fair. To ignore his claim of legitimacy is twisting the facts to fit your own political agenda, something the Unites States does with alacrity.
Further complicating the issues, Crimea, which is ethnically Russian, is determined to succeed from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Of course, the Kremlin welcomes the Crimean Parliament's effort to succeed. On Tuesday Crimea's parliament voted overwhelmingly to succeed and declare itself independent. Of the 81 deputies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, 78 approved. Crimean citizens vote Sunday in a referendum to decide whether Crimea should succeed and be annexed by Russia. Ukraine has told Crimea it would face dissolution if it held a referendum that violates the nation's constitution, but Crimean officials do not recognize the new leadership in Kiev. Crimean legislators point to a 2010 ruling by the International Court of Justice that affirmed Kosovo's right to declare independence from Serbia as precedence for their vote. Western powers are also calling the upcoming plebiscite illegitimate. Russia supports the referendum saying it is "completely legal", but international monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it would not monitor the referendum since it would not be conducted in accordance with Ukraine's constitutional procedures. The real question remains just how far each power bloc is willing to go to bring an irretrievably divided nation into its sphere of influence. That calculus must take into account Vladimir Putin's resentment of the West's deceit about the creep of NATO eastward toward Russia's borders, the true nature of the Libyan intervention*, and most recently the West's poorly disguised lust to make Kiev a western capital.
*Prior to the bombing campaign conducted by NATO, supposedly to defend the population from retaliation by a crazed, struggling dictator, Libya was on the doorstep of meeting infrastructure development goals set by the UN. Now, it has returned to the ranks of what was formerly known as the third world and suffers political chaos. How is that for nation building?