danhoff, with your claimed insights, you will know what Europe is really like!
National borders have been drawn and redrawn so often over more than a thousand years, it's enough to make one's head spin.
There are people living everywhere over there who think they should be part ot the country next door. Ethnic Poles in western Ukraine and Bellorussia, German speakers in the Czeck Republic, etc, not to mention 2 major separatist regions in Spain.
What makes a Russian speaking majority in parts of Eastern Ukraine any different?
The ethnic divide in Ukraine is a result of historical events and past political failings.. I could just as easily argue that it needs goodwill on both sides of this dispute to rise to the occasion and address the issue once and for all, without resorting to violence. The violence is coming from both sides.
If you would argue the Ukraine is only defending its territorial integrity, I would argue that it is doing so at the expense of its citizens who identify more with Russia.
