""Putin is evil" cliché" ? That's not a cliché at all.
If you're saying that Ukraine == Middle East then you could say that USSR == Middle East. That's not true at all.
Russia is crushing nearby countries. Georgia with South Ossetia in 2008. Moldova with Transnistria in 1992. Chechnya.
Now they are crushing Ukrainian people for not loving their pro-Russian president.
Ukraine is in dire straits, their main import is gas from russia, by way of pipelines, which are then collected and exported- they're basing their whole economy on this and it's failing... very soon there wouldn't even be a country.. so, they went to Europe and asked for aid.. Europe said "If you comply with our sanctions on becoming an EU associate (not member) then we'll give you 1billion euros."
which, on the scale of a country isn't a whole bunch of cash, and adhering to the sanctions would cost more than that in of itself.
Putin said "if you don't join the EU (as an associate, not member) then I'll give you 15 billion euros and 50% off the price of our Russias gas"
to me, that sounds like a better long term solution to get the Ukraine out of this problem, and, it sounded like that to the Ukraine government, so they signed the agreement with Putin, however, everyone has heard about the EU, and they're very hopeful they'd be able to join as a member.
the Ukraine people have this vision of free travel to other countries and it's clouding their judgment a lot.
quite a few things have been signed to admonish the protesters and protect them against legal troubles (at the EU request), but the requirement was that the protests cease.. they took the police aside, and issued a no fire order, but clear the square. They didn't even give the officers guns.
Now, people who seem to be there are causing damage and trouble, I'm not even sure they know why they're fighting now, it's certainly not for freedom or the future of their country (as a member of the EU), lets not forget that Turkey has been an EU Associate for 20 years now and seems no closer to being a member state.
So military intervention is not to be unexpected.
but you're mistaken if you think there is no logic involved in the governments actions.
Russia is crushing nearby countries. Georgia with South Ossetia in 2008. Moldova with Transnistria in 1992. Chechnya.
Now they are crushing Ukrainian people for not loving their pro-Russian president.