Ukraine! Really?

What is happening in the Ukraine?

First it seems as if a corrupt government is trying to hang onto power with a sweetheart deal with Russia; but now that there has been a change of government, the Russians are back to playing Soviet-style politics.  Is this a repeat of Czechoslovakia 1968?

Have we truly returned to this sort of political gamesmanship?  This seems more like something that would happen in the Middle East or Sub-Saharian Africa but not in Europe.  Just how fragile are the international relations that we depend upon for the sake of this world?

It would seem that there are few options available to those who would want to come to the aid of the Ukrainians.  It doesn't seem like anyone wants to commit troops (but we would gladly send our soldiers to Afghanistan).  Nor do economic sanctions seem to have much importance because the Russian economy is humming along due to its oil and natural gas exports.  So a tit for tat response seems to be of no avail.

What would happen, however, if people all around the world began to protest what the Russians are doing in invading a sovereign nation?  What if we all sent emails to the Kremlin telling Putin to stop?  What would happen if this became the biggest buzz on Social Media?   What would it look like if we were to express our disgust for this action by simultaneously gathering in churches around the world and joining in 10 minutes of prayer for the people of the Ukraine?  If we can light a candle, doesn't that make more sense than to curse the darkness?

It seems that the people of this world could make it know one way or another that we do not approve of what Mr Putin is doing.  Rather than waiting for the governments of the world to figure out how to respond, can we not use this world-wide web to make our voice known?