1. The protesters are not "virtuous anti-Putin freedom fighters," nor are they "Nazis and US puppets"

In fact, the people who are protesting or supporting the protesters are first and foremost sick of their shitty lives in a shitty country they want to make better--a country where their fates are controlled by a tiny handful of nihilistic oligarchs and Kremlin overlords, and their political frontmen. It's first and foremost a desire to gain some control over their fate. Anger at Kremlin power over Ukraine is not necessarily anti-Russian--although the further west you go in Ukraine, the more this does become about nationalism, and the further east you go--including Crimea and Odessa--the more the politics are a fearful reaction against west-Ukraine nationalism.

Obvious for most of us around here, but worth repeating.