I confess my post is more Syria oriented than Crimea. Would it have been better to say Ukraine? Perhaps I could replace Crimea with Ukraine. But then, as you say, there are various parties.

Then I read your response concerning Syria. In the midst of the bombing and destruction of 2016, to describe Syria's government as a democratically elected one when al-Assad, himself, ran unopposed and is presiding over the destruction of a whole culture, well, it's is a little like saying to the bombed cities of Germany in 1944-45 that, in the mid-1930s, they democratically elected their ... what is it? Chancellor? Those are facts that become pretty well meaningless truths. Had Hitler not killed himself, I'd say he would not have won re-election in early 1945, and I suspect it's the same with al-Assad today.

I'll stay with my Spanish Civil War comparison. That war was a key component of the  20th Century political history. In my opinion it has more learning value than WW 1&2 combined.