As a political conservative my natural inclination is to oppose everything Putin has done in Crimea.
However a pragmatic notion in me says leave it the F**k alone.

Crimea was ceded to the Ukraine during the Soviet era,i don't believe there was referendum then.
Ukraine is a deeply divided nation with 70%  of the population in the western half wanting closer
relations with the EU.In the eastern half it is exactly the polar opposite of that with them wanting
closer links with the Russians.

Strangely i find myself showing sympathies with the bleeding heart liberals on this issue.
The UK got shafted when the lucrative contracts were awarded following the Iraq war and i don't
believe we should bite a hand that is feeding us now.

Also my beloved Football team are owned by one of Putin's pals.

I think one of the problems is that the new regime in Kiev has not been democratically elected and was imposed following a coup d'etat. So from that perspective, the events in Crimea have equal if not more moral validity. Putin has done exactly what, we sincerely hope, our wargame strategists would have predicted. So the question is, knowing the Russian response, why did we interfere when elections were a mere year away? Again, our leaders seem to lack a strategic oversight when they decide to kick up a hornet's nest.

By marriage, I have an extended family in the Ukraine, they are Russians culturally and speaking, but they are siding with the new regime, mainly as they want to be part of the EU. But under Greek levels of austerity and Spanish levels of unemployment, reinforced with the ultra-nationalists showing their neo-nazi credentials in earnest, they would be welcoming the Russian army and the protection of Putin with open arms. Under these circumstances, Putin need not invade the rest of Ukraine, he is merely going to wait until the situation in the country - which one commentator has described as Nigeria with snow - descends into chaos.

^ Wrong.

Consulting work on the London sewers has been very lucrative for me over the years...

There seemed to be a bit of a heavy vibe through Holland Park upto Hyde Park yesterday. A few more police on the door of some of the diplomats' houses. Also the statue of St Volodymyr has been set up as a shrine to the fallen men of the Urakine uprising. Strange to see all these issues from miles away playing out infront of you on your dog walk. We really are so interconnected globally.