So the head of the CIA, the US veep, and the obsequious Swedish MFA all turn up in Kiev. The US-backed putsch government start scrambling troops to the east of the country shortly afterwards.
The people living there are scarred. They've seen the US come in, co-opt a genuine protest, run 65 NGOs in their country, pick and choose who will sit in a putsch government before anything happens, watch the right wing extremists hijack the popular movement, watch someone from the US go around handing out cookies, see the formal rise to power of two crazed neo-Nazi groups who can't get popular vote, see the equivalent of the brown shirt be given formal authority to police the nation.
These people have lived with and fought against the brutality of fascism all their lives, as had their parents and grandparents. Crimea got out safely.
Here's a clip from a demonstration they had some two months ago. These are the people David Cameron would have you and the House of Commons believe are on the side of the west, and only chanting and shouting slogans because they're being held 'at the point of a Kalashnikov', just as he and others said of the celebrations in Crimea the night the referendum results became known.
Then the violence hit. The putsch government sent in heavy guns to deal with public buildings that had been occupied for weeks. And the right wingers followed along for good measure. And someone from that extremist right torched the trade union building there in Odessa. 46 people perished as a result.
Some people were rescued, but then the right extremists - with the putsch forces looking on, protecting the extremists, doing nothing to stop the violence - beat them to death.
The following clips are protected by YouTube: they're that hideous. This is the face of fascism. This is why over 20 million Russians and Ukrainians gave their lives.
The city is in shock today. The world is in shock. Or should be.
46 people. Forty-six. Forty-four years ago Neil Young wrote a song of outrage about four people being slaughtered by their own countrymen. Last night Odessa lost over ten times that many. And the people in Odessa simply want to live their lives.
46.
Sweden's counterpart to Tony Bliar wanted people to believe the 46 were responsible for their own demise.
He was otherwise out campaigning in the Duckpond for his wife today, as if nothing had happened.
Putsch troops are reportedly on their way tonight to Mariupol where one building's already been torched.
These peoples of the east aren't anti-west or anti-Russian or necessarily pro-west or pro-Russian: more than anything, they're anti-fascism.
These people and the peoples of Russia lost over 20 million lives defending themselves against fascism 70 years ago. 70 years is recent enough for several generations to remember. 20 million lives is genocide.
Putin meanwhile has essentially done three things.
Asked for a parliamentary vote authorising him to intervene if it's deemed necessary.
Accepted Crimea's application for membership in the Russian federation. (They're traditionally part of Russia; many of them spoke now about 'finally coming home'.)
Nothing else whatsoever. The neocons in State want him to reach for his holster. They've been itching for an all-out nuclear battle to the death for generations.
You won't see or hear much of this on your western MSM. The neocons in State prefer you not be shown. They'd prefer you believe Russia and Putin were behind it all, when they can't offer any 'evidence' that isn't debunked within minutes - forged passports, photos of empty supermarket shelves in Crimea with US dollar signs on the edges, some pretty childish stuff.
They need you to believe that these peoples would otherwise have no reason to object to their cookie-fed putsch government.
They need you to gloss over their orchestrated slaughter yesterday.