this bit highlights some of the Empire's hypocrisy;

"The Kerch Bridge Incident Points to Wider Issues" (ONeill):

"There are two other recent historical examples that highlight the blatant western hypocrisy about Crimea’ s re-integration with the Russian Federation.

In 1967 as a result of the Six Day War, Israel occupied the Syrian component of the Golan Heights. In 1981 the Israeli parliament passed an Act purporting to annex the Golan Heights to Israel’s territory.

That was an annexation in the true sense of the word. It was utterly without legal justification. Israel has ignored repeated UN General Assembly resolutions for the Golan Heights to be returned to Syria.

The point here is that Israel has not been subject to sanctions by the Western powers for its illegal conduct. Nor are there regular editorials in the western mainstream media denouncing Israel’s aggression and unlawful conduct.

The second example relates to Kosovo. The Kosovo parliamentary assembly made a unilateral declaration of independence on 17 February 2008, determining to break away from Serbia. The International Court of Justice delivered an advisory opinion on 22 July 2010, which held, by a majority, that the declaration of independence did not violate general international law because international law contains “no prohibition on declarations of independence.”

A minority of countries recognise Kosovo’s independence, including the United States and Australia, two of the foremost critics of Crimea’s referendum and its subsequent rejoining the Russian Federation. Unsurprisingly, they do not acknowledge the illogicality of their position.

Kosovo has no seat in the United Nations. It is essentially a gangster state and a major conduit for Afghanistan heroin into the European market. It is also home to Camp Bondsteel, one of the United States’ largest military bases in Europe and so secretive that it is closed to inspectors from the Council of Europe.

The contrast between the Western responses to Crimea where the overwhelming majority of its population exercised what the International Court of Justice said in the Kosovo context was their lawful right, and the course of events in Kosovo and the Golan Heights could not be greater."........https://journal-neo.org/2018/12/04/the-kerch-bridge-incident-points-to-wider-issues/