I was in Ukraine in 2006: staying in Crimea and Bukovina. It seemed clear that the Russian speakers in Ukraine wanted to be back into the Russian fold. Part of that reason is that the Ukrainian government was making moves to remove Russian as a first language in Ukraine.

In 1991, Ukraine got the best democratic constitution the political scientists could concoct. Yet the Ukrainian parliament was subservient to the oligarchical class. The only real progress was that Russian oligarchs were being replaced by Ukrainian oligarchs. I think this was one reason for the invasion; the Russian uber-elite were losing their Ukrainian playground.

It is interesting that a good part of the Russian speaking parts of Ukraine have sided with Ukraine, not Russia. A lot has changed since 2006. I have run across a few analysts saying that the Russian language in Ukraine is moving closer to Ukrainian.

We really need to learn how to get along with our differences. The Ukraine/Russian divide shows there is a lot more learning to do.