Stratfor post

It's about the Ukrainian situation.  It is a well-balanced piece that addresses each side of the issue.

Normally, I don't refer to Stratfor.  Awhile back, I noted a leftward bias to it.  This time it looks reasonable enough, so I will cite it.  However, I don't have the link handy here.

It seems that Bush may have poked a finger into Russia's eye, and that may have caused some trouble with the Russians.  It doesn't help to make the Russians suspicious.  This East-West suspicion has deep roots going all the way back to the days of the Roman Empire  ( by the way, the following is my interpretation, not Stratfor's) .

For example, even though each has Christian traditions, each tradition has evolved differently.  In the West, blood was spilled over religious differences.  That's a main factor in the development of religious freedom in the United States.  But in the East?  It seems much more monolithic to me, and has evolved that way culturally too.  That's a difference worth noting.  So, anything that revives and accentuates these differences is a mistake.  Bush seems to have made it by supporting the Orange Revolution.  It looked like the US was challenging the Russians in their own backyard.

There's not much way the Russians are going to forgo some type of control over Ukraine.  To push this invites trouble.  So, I agree with Stratfor in this case.