USA annexes Hawaii, no one bats an eye. Russia annexes Crimea, everyone loses their minds.
Yes, the U.S used its imperialist power to annex Hawai'i in 1897. That was before most of the modern foundations of international law - in particular article 2(4) of Chapter 1 of the United Nations Articles[0] - were put in place. No excuse, but still - different times.
There are many aspects of U.S. foreign policy I positively abhor. But I'm not alone; the coups and the assassinations and the fiscal bullying and the straight out illegal wars waged against foreign nations have put quite a dent into the U.S.' lady-liberty image.
Despite all that, the U.S. - at least since the end of WW2nd - hasn't seriously meddled in territorial growth or annexations. That's Russia's game and - given the assurances given to Ukraine after the collapse of the SU - especially perfidious.
All in all, I'm quite happy not to live in the Russian sphere of influence.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_I_of_the_United_Nation...
Either would be worse for the victims if Russia did it, but I'd much rather "just" become American or Russian than have foreign sponsors set up religious extremists to stage a rebellion and overthrow the government.
Neither am I and I detest what the U.S. did to South America. The pain and suffering cause by the US's actions there will continue to reverberate for decades to come.
Well, they are not. There is a good deal over a century between those two events and a whole lot has changed since then - even though I should admit not as much as I want.
Russias aggression against Ukraine however is at a completely different level than anything anyone has seen in Europe since a long time ago (and then it was the Sovjet, and before that Nazi-Germany.)