This is self-determination. I don't think anybody's denying that these are real citizens of eastern Ukraine protesting for independence from Kiev, and to join Russia if that's what they vote for.
“There are reports that a majority of the Ukranian troops in Crimea chose to leave the Ukraine military and stay in Crimea. I don’t think it’s a stretch to consider that they are quite capable at getting hold of Ukranian weapons (such as they were) and have their own weapons. They probably also brought with them the skills to organize a military response to the thug government of Kiev.”
What you falsely name as a “the thug government of Kiev” is the government appointed by the legitimately elected parliament of the independent state of the Ukraine. What you call the “thug government of Kiev” is the criminal President Yanukovych and his appointed ministers who are ethnic Russians supported and sponsored by the Russian KGB-FSB secret police. The Ukrainian Parliament at the insistence of the majority of the citizens of the Ukraine are putting a halt to the “thug” tactics of Russia’s Ukrainian puppets, including their monumental embezzlements of the state treasury, the abductions and assssinations of opposition Ukrainians, and their subversion and breaches of the Ukrainian constitutions.
“This is self-determination. I don’t think anybody’s denying that these are real citizens of eastern Ukraine protesting for independence from Kiev, and to join Russia if that’s what they vote for.”
Your statement is a heinous lie. The about 70% to 75% majority of the Ukrainians are not ethnic Russians in the eastern and southern Oblasts, and they along with most ethnic Russian Ukrainians have consistently opposed annexation by Russia. So, these infiltrations and insurrectionist seizures of Ukrainian territories by Russian Spetsnaz covert troops masquerading as Ukrainian protestors is exactly contrary to Ukrainian self-determination. Instead, these acts of war by Russia are crimes against the peace in violation of international law and punishable under international law.