Some essential background reading on the crisis in Ukraine:

• David Remnick on Putin’s War in Crimea

• Tim Synder on the haze of propaganda and the ongoing debate over whether the Ukraine protests constituted a coup d’etat

• Megan Carpentier on the Ukraine protests

• Julia Ioffe on why Putin is occupying Crimea and what the West can do about it (hint: nothing) 

[Photo credit: e r j k p r u n c z y k, Creative Commons.]