CRIMEA VOTES – AT 10:03 A.M. ET:  This is a decisive day in the Ukraine crisis.  Crimea, which is a peninsula on the southern end of Ukraine, votes today on its own future – remain Ukrainian, or split and go with Russia.  Most Crimeans are ethnically Russian, so it's assumed the latter course will be chosen.  But the West does not recognize the vote as valid.  From CNN:

Perevalnoye, Ukraine (CNN) -- Residents of Ukraine's Crimea region headed to the polls Sunday to vote in a disputed referendum on whether to join Russia or become an effectively independent state connected to Ukraine.

Beyond the question of Crimea's future status, the vote will likely influence future international relations in the region and beyond -- having put the United States and Russia on the kind of collision course not seen since the end of the Cold War.

Preliminary results could come as soon as Sunday night local time. The United States, which says the vote is illegal, has already said it expects the Black Sea peninsula's majority ethnic Russian population to vote in favor of joining Russia. Moscow has strongly backed the referendum.

Kicking off the polling in a prerecorded statement, Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov called on the residents of Crimea to cast their vote "independent of nationalism and disintegration."

Aksyonov acknowledged that the "eyes of the entire world are on us today." He asked Crimeans to show their aspiration to "live free in the world with friendly relations with all."

At a polling station in Perevalnoye, near a military base, a steady stream of voters arrived to cast their ballots despite the wintry weather.

Blaring dance tunes and Russian folk music welcomed them to the polling station, in an echo of Soviet times. What appeared to be a group of Russian soldiers -- without identifying insignia but with Russian license plates on their vehicles -- stood nearby.

COMMENT:  Should the vote go as expected, there will probably be urgent meetings in Europe and Washington tomorrow, with the prospect of some sanctions against Russia for encouraging the split and for trying to control the Ukraine generally.  Will these sanctions mean anything?  I doubt it.

March 16,  2014