Vexed vexillology and the Wild East

When The Guardian launched an online competition to see how the rest of the UK (rUK) would reimagine its flag should Scotland separate and take St. Andrew's saltire with it, announcing the results that were not much different to the current Union Flag (the most popular replacing blue with black), stating "most of us are too snobby to muck about with pictures, hallmark that they are of parvenu states like Canada or Brazil."  How New Zealand's prime minister, John Key, would react to that could be interesting given that he has proposed a referendum on the constitution of his country's flag within three years, his personal preference being the silver fern.  Of a more filigree pedigree than Canada's blocky maple leaf, it still imitates newcomer countries such as Lebanon (with its cedar) or Cyprus with a gold/copper picture of the island against a white background.
It's a shame that given all the political crisis over Crimea that it endured less than 24 hours of independence before it was absorbed into the Russian Charbydis, without a chance to craft its own flag.  This is not surprising though, given that the former prime minister of the Crimea (and alleged organised crime boss) Sergey Aksyonov was surrounded by Russian aides as he and his party - which polled less than 4% in the last local Crimean elections - overthrew the legitimate Crimean parliament at gunpoint.  With a stroke of his pen, Vladimir Putin abolished notional Crimean independence.
Given the tentative western sanctions, André Villas-Boas seemed no have no qualms about taking up the head coach post at Zenit St. Petersburg.  After he departed Chelsea, natural homes were either Italy (where his mentor José Mourinho went after his first Stamford Bridge departure) or the eastern fringes of UEFA in Russia or the Ukraine.  Instead, he pitched up surprisingly at Tottenham Hotspur, only finally beginning an 'eastern sabbatical' as he rebuilds his managerial reputation.  The risibility with which a predecessor at White Hart Lane, Juande Ramos, was held made predictions about where he would next pitch up pointing if not to the edge of outer darkness, at least away from the glamour clubs of western Europe.  Again Ukraine and Russia were though most likely destinations, but within weeks after leaving the Lane, he was coaching Real Madrid (until the end of the season) where his good work in Seville was remembered and where there was no language barrier.  Only now does he find himself at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.  So the doom-mongers were right after a long and roundabout hiatus.  It is not surprising, given the events in Ukraine, that all teams from the country exited European competition in the last round.  Zenit St. Petersburg is headed the same way in the Champions League, with Borussia Dortmund tonking them 4-2 on the former's own ground.  This is the most damage that Germany will inflict on Russia for punishment over Crimea (Putin was born in then-Leningrad) because the Kremlin has Berlin over a barrel (in more ways than one) on energy.  The pipeline under the Baltic Sea that bypassed Ukraine was negotiated by former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who promptly joined the board of Gazprom when he lost (narrowly) the general election he had called.  In light of Russia's increasingly fascistic behaviour (there is no other word for it - aggressive governmental nationalism that snatches land away from its neighbours on grounds of unifying with minorities outside its territory), Schröder's actions come across as treason.