You should bear no doubts that the protestors of Donetsk and Kharkiv are not merely elements of Ukraine who have suddenly found the courage, military uniforms and automatic weapons to defy the interim government of Kiev. There is a wealth of evidence that hints that Russia is behind this destabilising process, from 'local people' storming what they thought was a local government building only to find they'd taken control of the opera and ballet house, to two Russian state channels interviewing one man who claimed to be firstly a pro-Russian protestor, and then an anti-Russian extremist from Germany. Even Vladmir Putin now admits the 'volunteers' who siezed Crimea six weeks ago were Russian troops, not merely local concerned militia with Armoured Personnel Carriers at their disposal.
Just as in the game, the conflict has wrought havoc in Eastern Ukraine, with scuffles, seizure of arms and protestors from both camps frequently clashing. Yet equally in the game, the government of Kiev may possess more troops (excusing for a momemnt the 50,000 Russians poised on Ukraine's borders) but face a well organised and determined resistance movement that is led by unidentified, well equipped soldiers. While these have not been proven as Russian, it is worth considering that according to the Economist, the Russian Defence ministry boasted of creating such a unit last year.
Perhaps more poignantly in this parallel between the virtual and reality is that despite the best efforts of the West, in the aftermath of the events of Modern Warfare, the ultranationalists actually took control of Russia (analogous to Eastern Ukraine) in this example, which eventually leads to a far more globally reaching conflict in the sequel, Modern Warfare 2. While predicting a 3rd world war as a result of the Ukraine crisis is at this stage rather far fetched, it is worth noting that this proxy conflict by sides backed by NATO / Western and Russian interests respectively bears many of the hallmarks of the conflicts of the Cold War Era.
Vladmir Putin has refused to back down, the Russian state is collaborating in and to a large extent probably organising the destabilising events of Ukraine and Western action is a mere shadow of the bombastic rhetoric. I do not deny that Russian money is important in many Western financial centres, not least in London and that Russia's control of gas pipelines is a noose they can voluntarily squeeze on many Eastern European countries (thanks to Russian state ownership of Gazprom). But Russia is willing to act subversively, spinning one fable while enacting another and manipulating international law, citizenship and sovereignty to suit its own ends, and prevent the West from damaging its bullying sphere of influence on its borders. The West, particularly the EU and Britain must be prepared to be much stronger in their actions to prevent the violations of Ukrainian sovereignty at work.
Until then, the Russian juggernaut will infect and siphon off Ukrainian territory piece by piece. Though if the crisis does truly reflect the game, give Ukraine a year or two and it will be filled with young squeeky insurgents attempting to use big rifles for style points and shouting foul, poorly spelled abuse at each other through large microphones.
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