I think you have the country right, just the wrong year. This is much more like Nazi Germany's demand for the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1938. Like Adolph Hitler, Putin really believes he can get what he wants, and like Czechoslovakia of 1938 having a sizable minority of Germans the Ukraine has a sizable minority of Russians.
An 1938, the is really nothing the West can do to stop Putin anymore than they could back then stop Hitler. Eventually, Chamberlain “gave” the Sudetenland to Hitler. Obama will give the Crimea to Putin. He will abandon the Ukrainians, just like Chamberlain abandoned the Czechs.
Without consulting the Czechs, the four powers agreed that the Sudetenland should be given to Germany immediately. The governments of Britain and France made it clear to Czechoslovakia that if the Czechs rejected this solution, they would have to fight Germany by themselves.
Rewritten for 2014:
Without consulting the Czechs, the four powersObama and the EU agreed that the SudetenlandCrimea should be given to Germany Russia immediately. The governments of Britainthe USA and Francethe EU made it clear to Czechoslovakiathe Ukraine that if the CzechsUkrainians rejected this solution, they would have to fight GermanyRussia by themselves.
Of course, after that happened, Czechoslovakia wasn't enough for Hitler. He wanted Poland next. Britain and France lamely gave militarily-backed assurances to Poland that they could not fulfill, Hitler invaded anyways, and WWII came to Europe.
So after we give the Crimea to Russia and screw over the Ukrainians, what country will be our Poland?
Putin is using the same pretext for invasion that Hitler repeatedly used.
Very true. Quite a few people here follow “but Crimea is populated mainly by Russians, let's give it to them” line, they are forgetting that pre-WW2 Hitler's demands were also “rational” in some way. Sudetenland was mainly German speaking, as was Danzig/Gdansk. In 39 Germany could easily strike a deal with Poland If they offered for example machinery, transfer of technology and trade deal in exchange for Danzig and ex-territorial transit to East Prusssia. But 1. They offered nothing 2. It was clear that after they get what they want, they will demand more, more and more. It's the same in case of Crimea.
“what country will be our Poland?”
Likely Estonia and/or Latvia. They have large Russian minorities and although NATO members, there's no significant western military presence and even no serious plans what to do when they are attacked. It's enough to arm a few hundred local Russians, tell them to seize some buildings of administration in a few towns (claiming self-defense against discrimination) and then immediately send a few thousand “peacekeepers” waiting ready near the border.