Crimea is part of Ukraine since the 18th Century, gift or not. Putin has no right to go in and claim there is a need to protect Russians living there, how about taking care of the Russian in Russia!!. To think he is stupid enough to think that he has the right to just take territory shows he's unhinged. How could he think that any other Leader in the world would condone this thievery!! He needs to get out of Ukraine and worry about finding other source of control for oil and gas. Sanction is a ss.
Question is, what do we do about it?
Unhinged or not, Putin is a strategist. He knes taking Crimea would put us on the spot. Yes it violates international law, but it seems the Crimeans welcomed the Russians with open arms. So now Putin can shoult democracy, the will of the people.
We can complain all we want or impose sanctions for decades. But what do we do in the meantime? Just talk tough? I don't like that. If we want to do something about it, fine, let's put boots on the ground, get NATO in there and fight.
If we're not going to do that, then f^ck the granstanding and drop the sanctions and let's stop talking like hypocrits. If we don't accept it, then fight. If we won't fight, then accept it. But right now we're just huffing and puffing in front of the news cameras to entertain the stupid public.