It feels like the west is against democracy. They don't give a flying shit about the actual people, they only care about their politics.

• Poll done by an international company PEW global: "91% of Crimeans say the March 16th referendum was free and fair" http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2014/05/12/pew-poll-crimeans-happy-with-annexation-by-russia-believe-referendum-was-free-and-fair/

• Poll done by a Ukrainian company "82% of Crimeans support crimea becoming part of Russia" http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2015/02/4/7057470/

• https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/john-o%E2%80%99loughlin-gerard-toal/crimean-conundrum One year since Crimea was annexed by Russia, polling reveals that (with the notable exception of the Tatars) the new order enjoys legitimacy among the population.

• many people will say that Putin invaded Ukraine and "took" crimea. What they forget to mention is that Crimea was taken from Russia and given to Ukraine unlawfully during the Soviet Union in 1954: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_transfer_of_Crimea Why is it that the illegal transfer in 1954 is seen by the world as legal, and this current one - voted on by the people is seen as illegal and an invasion?

• Another thing people miss is that Crimea wanted to become autonomous in 1991: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_sovereignty_referendum,_1991 In this 1991 Referendum, 94% of voters wanted to become independent from Ukraine. In 1992 Crimea wanted more independence. They wanted to hold a referendum about this, but Ukraine denied them this right.

• Crimea again tried to hold an independence referendum in 1994, Ukraine declared it illegal, but they went ahead anyway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_referendum,_1994 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_presidential_election,_1994 The results: The Crimea holds the referendum 1.3 million voted, 78.4% of whom supported greater autonomy from Ukraine , 82.8% supported allowing dual Russian-Ukrainian citizenship, and 77.9% favored giving Crimean presidential decrees the force of law. tl;dr; They wanted Ukraine to have as little effect on their lives as possible. They wanted to get out. The first round of both Crimean and Ukrainian elections also take place. In the Crimea, the Rossiya bloc gets 67% of the vote. This means that 67% of the people voted for a very pro-Russian party. But in 1995, the Ukrainian government again denied them democracy by removing this very pro-Russian president of Crimea. Russia then said "...the use of direct military force might be necessary to protect our compatriots abroad." : http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/chronology.asp?groupId=36904

• 1993: Sevastopol (One of the cities in Crimea) was already for Russia and against Ukraine who were trying to push their customs and language on them. Ukraine tried to suppress the Russian language even then. Tried to change product packaging to be Ukrainian. People were against this Ukrainification. Lady at 40 seconds says "How can Sevastopol be Ukrainian, it is a Russian city". at 1 minute guy says "We will not give our fleet to the Banderas" Lady: "The government isn't listening to people, why do they want to push their will on us". The Russian fleet sailors started getting threatening letters in the mail from Ukrainian nationalists. At 3:40 lady is crying and says she's never seen such hate against her because she is Russian. At 4:33 soldier says he doesn't understand this nationalism, all he wants is peace and to be Russian. He says "I ask all you Russians, don't leave us, and we won't leave you": http://youtu.be/djLsgcFGceoYouTube

• Crimeans are extremely pro Russian and anti EU: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/06/do-crimeans-actually-want-to-join-russia/

• Crimeans always vote extremely in favor of Pro Russian presidents and 70%+ voted for Yanukovich who was removed from power undemocratically: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Ukraine#Voting_patterns

• Crimeans don't even consider themselves Ukrainian. They consider themselves Crimean. And their Geo-political orientation is Russian. They have less than 5% Ukrainian speakers. Nearly ALL Crimeans speak only Russian: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/06/do-crimeans-actually-want-to-join-russia/

• 97% of Crimeans speak Russian at home: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language_in_Ukraine#Polls

• By engineering the referendum in Crimea, Putin has again thrown international law back into the face of the West. If a fair vote is held, and Crimeans vote overwhelmingly to join Russia, then any Western effort to stop them will be seen as an attempt to thwart the will of the people, a violation of their right to self-determination, which is enshrined in the U.N. charter and multiple human rights treaties http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/03/crimea_referendum_on_joining_russia_and_leaving_ukraine_underhanded_but.single.html

• If Russia was such an evil invader, why would 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers join them after this "annexation"? Shouldn't they all be angry and run off to Ukraine? http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-servicemen-leave-crimea-8-000-join-russia-1.2597940

• Feb/March: The "terrifying" invasion by Russian soldiers in pictures: http://youtu.be/FVSBGXAbh3sYouTube

• More invasion by Russia. Notice the civilians friendly reaction to Russian soldiers compared to what happens in Donetsk when Ukrainian soldiers invade. There is no blood shed, no shooting, the civilians don't put up barricades or tell them to get out: http://youtu.be/KCfEWvih7icYouTube

• Former Ukrainian servicemen reflect on their new Crimea. The improvements after Russia has taken over operations (Article translated from Russian): http://fortruss.blogspot.ca/2015/01/former-ukrainian-servicemen-reflect-on.html Now we are building a dining facility for 1,000 soldiers. Over there six dorms and two barracks buildings are being modernized. Eventually we’ll have a housing area with eight houses for officers and their families, as well as for contract servicemen. We started building a school for 400 children and a kindergarten for 250. The Lieutenant Colonel says that 99% of the officers and contract soldiers never supported the Maidan. Did many of your comrades depart for Ukraine? --About 20% from the roster as of March 16, a total of 131 soldiers. Some of them had relatives in Ukraine. People were afraid there would be difficulties in crossing the border, which turned out to be true. There were various circumstances, but we parted ways with dignity. We ordered buses, escort, we arranged things with the customs, so that people would not be harassed on the border. Everyone made their choice voluntarily. By the summer the brigade received new uniforms as well as new pay scale which on average are five times higher than in the Ukrainian Army. The “paper exercises” which were the norm during the 20 years of independence were replaced by real field ones. You probably won’t believe me, but just to go to the firing range we had to buy gasoline from our own personal funds. We went once to Zhitomir once to the factory to get some parts for our armored vehicles. In the suitcase I carried vodka and money. At night I traded them with uncle Vasya across the fence for the required parts, and then went back to the unit and fixed the equipment. But this summer we received brand-new, 2013-vintage KamAz trucks, and our mechanics were practically kissing them! Then we received T-72s on railcars. We climb into them, and they start from the first attempt! We forgot it could be like that....He says that he was shocked when he received his first pay. With the physical fitness allowance it amounted to 17,000 rubles. --How much was it earlier?--208 hryvnia (650 rubles) ...We have tablecloths and normal cutlery, but only since the Spring, proudly says Captain 2nd Grade Makarov. No more barley gruel. We have an all-you-can-eat buffet. We serve meals five times a day. Salads, juice boxes, four appetizers to choose from. We ate enough for a week.