Amid the Crimea unrest, the E.U. and the U.S. extend sanctions on Russian officials -- and Russian officials hit right back with sanctions on our own lawmakers, who are more than happy to bear the burden.

Territorial disputes are only solved after long, hard negotiations. The only recent exception in Europe has been the very successful velvet divorce conducted without referendums or threats of violence by politicians in what was Czechoslovakia. Let us not forget either that that was achieved in the teeth of opposition from European governments and the Russian Federation who wanted no change in boundaries.