What do you think the US, EU, Russia, Ukraine itself and even other countries should do in order to stop the crisis in Ukraine with a fair agreement?
Bluntly, it's not our conflict to stop.
The only thing 'we' do is make things worse. There are people in Ukraine who want to be part of Russia. There are people in Ukraine who want to remain independent. When Russia gets up and starts standing behind those who want to become a part of Russia - it makes those who wish to be independent feel threatened - and then we stand behind them... and it makes the other side feel threatened.
Eventually they start killing each other and then we get involved. But since it isn't our people killing each other, and we'd like to keep it that way, no one actually intervenes when you have incidents like Sarajevo.
What we can do is stop believing we should be doing something. The only thing we should be doing is buying and selling products and services with them. If some of our companies want to go perform security operations over there for monetary compensation, that is their prerogative. We don't need to spend any of our government's resources on convincing Russia to cause even greater problems.
If it appears that Russia is going to actively move against our allies, we tell them it will be a bad idea - then we close our mouths. The moment they commit to an aggressive act against our allies, we ravage them and knock out key industrial centers. Then we promise more unless they cease and desist. If they get mouthy, we nuke the Kremlin.
Their strategic nuclear response? Being the dirty capitalists they are, defense manufacturers in the U.S. saw the growing tensions as a market opportunity and sold the latest and greatest in ballistic missile interception technology to the areas in the greatest threat regions (for a profit, too). Perhaps our military bought some, too. Perhaps they didn't - it got sold abroad, anyway, without restrictions.
So Russia's strategic nuclear response, what wasn't destroyed on the ground by precision bombing, was reduced by around 85% due to a dense layering of ballistic missile defense solutions.
Crimea can still vote to become part of Russia. Russia just doesn't get to bring their military to run the voting booths across Eastern Europe and call the votes legitimate. Russia can still trade and do business with other countries - we really shouldn't care - we just got tired of seeing them stage an army on the borders of a country and then convince portions of the country closest to that army to vote on whether or not to join Russia.
But, honestly, the more our government 'negotiates' and the more we get involved with the specific region of conflict - the worse things will get in Ukraine. The only thing we need to do is release a one-line comment here or there telling Russia that they need to knock it the hell off. Otherwise, we need to be quiet until we cave their skull in. Then hand them an ultimatum that tells them how to avoid a second helping of ass beatings. If they comply - diplomacy successful. If not, our military will be.
Discussions and meetings only go so far with any country, particularly those countries like Russia. We're talking with people who throw political opponents out of office buildings to their death. Discussions are a means to an end. If it means they can buy time to stage forces, they'll agree to certain statutes of a peace treaty right up until they know they have the force necessary to break that treaty.
It's the context all of politics is viewed as being. It is assumed that we are doing much the same thing (or that we are just stupid if we aren't). It's always an angle and they are never going to give up anything that was of any use/meaning to them in the first place. If they agree to halting an advance, it is likely because they needed to wait for resupply, anyway. If they agree to a cease-fire, it's because they are low on ammo, have incomplete fortifications, or have reinforcements a few weeks out.
There is an old saying: "Diplomacy is the art of saying: "Nice Doggie" until you find a big-enough rock." And that concept is very applicable to how most foreign nations view diplomacy and summits. The idea of actually sacrificing something valuable over a handshake is pure lunacy. If you're giving it up, it's because you no longer need it or because losing it doesn't harm you in any way. That is how you are expected to negotiate, and that is how they negotiate. Nothing on the table is actually important to them, and getting them to actually sacrifice something of value is not likely to happen unless under duress.
Which is why these things hardly ever work out, especially once we get involved. Our politicians are dumber than a bag of hammers when it comes to this stuff, and think they can handle negotiations like a press conference or campaign. So they get bent over and screwed up the rear by a cactus (and oddly don't seem to realize how bad they were tore into).
And in the mean-time, you have people in the country we're yapping about killing each other while we gorge ourselves on media coverage of the inhumanity of war.
It's asinine all the way around.
I suggest you read "Zlata's Diary"
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. It gives you some insight into what I'm talking about. It's an interesting view into a different culture under a state of civil unrest we an only barely begin to identify with.
Then you can pick up books like this one:
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- this book has since been updated through 2010 and even later, I believe.
I'm not all the way through it, yet - but their history is crazy. The fact that the region doesn't have many of its own history books (which blew my mind) makes the methods used by historians to uncover the history of the region as engaging and interesting as the history, itself.