Some people in Britain with a superiority complex observe sniffily that US citizens have an insufficient awareness of irony.

They will feel their prejudices fully justified after US Secretary of State John Kerry's comments during a guided tour of TV news studios on Sunday. His spiel varied slightly, but the message was consistent.

"You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext," he pontificated.

No, he wasn't condemning US invasions of countless states on the basis of false prospectuses. His target was Russia for its involvement in Ukraine's region of Crimea.

The US and its European Union allies have grown used to ordering the rest of the world about by imposing various sanctions to bring recalcitrant leaders to heel or resorting to military action.

Kerry seems impatient for the self-proclaimed Ukrainian government to opt for war, declaring: "The people of Ukraine will not sit still for this. They know how to fight."

He seems unaware that Ukrainian themselves are divided over these links.

The current crisis has led Moscow to authorise its forces to impose themselves in Crimea in response to threats against the Russian population and fears regarding its Black Sea Fleet stationed in Sevastopol.

It could have been avoided, but this would have required a more responsible attitude from visiting US and EU politicos who offered protesters in Kiev's Independence Square full backing for their activities.

Setting up an armed camp in front of the parliament building, launching violent attacks on police and insisting on their right to drive out the elected government would not have been acceptable in the US or any EU member state.

State security units would have dispersed those intent on subverting democracy and especially if it was known that the anti-government forces' cutting edge was supplied by an assortment of fascist, Russophobe and anti-semitic groups.

However, that was ruled out in Kiev by the EU-US allies of insurrection, threatening President Yanukovych with sanctions whenever he came close to asserting state power over Independence Square.

His real crime was to delay signing an association agreement with Brussels, having been offered financial aid to the tune of around £10 billion by Vladimir Putin and appreciating the likely losses that a rupture with Russia would entail.

Opposition leaders now ensconced in de facto government may believe that their benefactors will grant Ukraine EU membership, despite only an association agreement being currently on offer.

They have Poland's backing for this, but Germany, France and the Netherlands oppose it, knowing that they would be foremost in having to foot the bill for Ukraine's modernisation.

Their intention is to remove Kiev from Russia's sphere of influence so that their corporations can dominate Ukraine's markets through a free-trade deal, which would undercut and destroy eastern Ukraine's manufacturing sector.

Faced with Russia's decisive initiative in Crimea, Brussels and Washington have to accept that they will not win a 100 per cent victory in Ukraine.

They must be honest with their proteges in Kiev and advise them to ditch their attacks on Russians, minority languages and symbols of Russian heritage in Ukraine, restore the ban on nazi paraphernalia and jettison their stormtrooper allies.

There has to be a negotiated solution that respects Ukrainian sovereignty, all traditions and cultures within the country and links to both east and west. Further bloodshed must be unacceptable.