There were issues in Ukraine to begin with. The lying, thieving, corrupt piece of crap president ran away when people were getting fed up with the situation. I'm sure there was outside involvement from all sides, in the original situation, but the fundamental problems already existed. Things had to change. But then everyone got involved even more (mostly Russia and especially Russia) and things morphed, escalated and morphed some more and now here were are...
This is not about Ukraine anymore...
First I commend you on your patience and ability to resist rising to the bait. Most Americans have little knowledge or interest in Eastern Europe and we have a tendency to make insensitive comments without knowing it.
First the history. The original Russian state was Kievan Rus and occupied the territory of present day Ukraine. This state slowly grew from about 900--1200 CE, mainly toward the north and east. When the Mongol invasion hit, the Russian states of the steppe were overrun and the states of the forest became tributaries of the Golden Horde. From this period until about 1500 CE the Russian state consolidated first around Vladimir and later around Moscow. By this time Ukraine had largely become a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Russian state was always expansionary, and gradually it came to dominate Eastern Europe by about 1850 absorbing Ukraine, most of Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, the Caucusus, and expanding over Siberia and Central Asia. To say that Ukraine is a part of Russia is similar to saying that Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Kazakstan, Turkistan, Turkmenistan, Moldova, Georgia, Afganistan, and Iran are part of Russia. Each of these nations has separate identity and a minority Russian population (except for Latvia which is almost evenly split). By this kind of reasoning, Austria should be entitled to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, half of Rumania, a third of Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia.
The great multi-national empires of a hundred years ago are all gone; get over it!
The Soviet period was marked by huge population shifts and deportations. There aren't many Tartars in Crimea because Stalin deported all of them to Siberia and only 10% have been able to return. In their place, Stalin usually sent reliable cadres, usually Russian. Part of the problem today is that in many of these new nations the Russian minority was a privileged minority, in power through the Red Army and the Party apparatus. They are still not used to sharing power with people they consider inferior, even if it is their country.
The issue of corruption in the Ukrainian government is a red herring. Of course most of the government since 1991 has been corrupt. So has the governments of Belarus and Russia and most of the former Soviet Republics. It's a problem to be addressed, but it has nothing to do with Ukrainian independence.
The United States interest in the conflict is simply that Russia is an international outlaw, a regime dedicated to repression at home and conquest and hegemony abroad. If you don't know about Abkhazia, Southern Ossetia, and Transnistria, you haven't been paying attention. The Ukraine is notable only because the Europeans seem to be willing to take the Russian threat seriously and do something about it this time. Russia is simply an oil company with nuclear weapons and an unstable meglomaniac for a ruler.
You are correct. This is not about Ukraine any more; it never was about Ukraine, it was about Russian hegemony.
