The Russian neglects to mention one reason there are so many Russian language speakers in Eastern Ukraine .... the genocide called the Holodomor where 5-10 million Ukrainians were starved to death and many more sent to Gulags by Stalin. It also the main reason many Ukrainians sided with Germany against the Soviet Russians.

I agree largely with his over-all history of Russia, especially its having its origins in the duchy of Kiev. That being as it is, I am sure that my Ukrainian friends would offer a somewhat different history of Russia vis-a-vis Kiev. More to the point, however, is the total irrelevance of such a discussion. If Germany moved on Belgium today, would a discussion of "Charlemagne" as "Karl der Grosse" king of the Franks at Aix-la-Chapelle serve as a pre-text? In the Rheinland region (both banks of the river) you can find people whose name today maybe Dupont or Brueckner, but whose name was Brueckner or Dupont just some time back. If Mexico attempted to take Texas, would an apologist's history justify the aggression?

The ambiguity between Ukraine and Russia is typical of the nature of border regions. Few natural barriers are completely impervious. What is the natural border of the Ukraine? Is is the Don, or the Volga, or the Dnieper? The Ukraine is what it was the last time the borders were drawn and the last time that everyone agreed on that. Anything coming after is only and exactly what it appears to be: an invasion.

I note also that the writer differentiated the American people from the American government, a trope that plays well here in the Gulch. Any anarchist would agree that every government is always a gang of looters who oppress the people. As true as that may be in Putin's Russia - and in Russia, historically - American politics is different. We really do elect people among us who serve as officials holding temporary office. No one gets rich working for the government - or those who do come to scrutiny and, ultimately, to consequences.

The weekend, NPR's "Day Six" had a feature about Mount Everest. Nepal charges $10,000 per climber. About 350 people per year climb the mountain. No one knows where the $3.5 million goes. In America, we would know. I offer that Russia is more like Nepal than it is like America.