I think the difference is that the people of Crimea genuinely want to be part of Russia (as they were until a few decades ago). Maybe not the proportion claimed in the phony referendum yesterday, but the majority nonetheless. I do not understand for a second why the US is opposing it.
Stu: Their vote was coming, Putin is a scary Soviet era shithead that essentially annexed the place before their shifty ballot business did it for him. Add to that the sudden Soviet era cessation of the last Russian free media, you get scary Soviet era flashbacks.