re: So Russia might have just invaded the Ukraine, kind of

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The whole reason the Ukraine protests began was because the Orange Revolution was a failure. Neither Yuschenko nor the imprisoned Tymoshenko were successful and Tymoshenko isn't seen as Ukraine's future because of some of her associations.

And a large part of the reason the Orange Revolution failed is that Russia used Gazprom to manipulate natural gas prices and effectively control countries like Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, and others. When a nation the Russians deem theirs behaves as the Kremlin wants prices are cut but when they are acting like they have a right to self-determination or veer away from what Putin wants prices shoot up until said nation complies. By using a private company Gazprom to manipulate prices according to Putin's foreign policy goals (not according to real price but solely on a whim), Putin has been able to destabilize governments economically and politically and bully them into submission.

If countries don't comply they risk not just the wrath of the Kremlin but the real world effects that such steep spikes and politically motivated punitive actions have on their nation's economy, people, and government and those effects can be devastating.

Not long ago Putin used Gazprom to completely shut off the pipeline that runs through Ukraine in order to assert control over Ukraine and quite literally keep Ukraine from having any natural gas in the country at all. The only reason it didn't last longer is because by cutting off that pipeline they cut off other nation's gas supplies.

EuroMaidan and AutoMaidan protesters were well aware of this as is every other Eastern European. The Ukrainians who protested and the government which finally impeached Yanukovych were sick of this outside influence because that influence keeps their country on its knees. You take a nation already impoverished and unstable and subject it to huge spikes in gas charges and you wreck it. If such measures were tried by any other country and especially if they were tried against a country as economically strong as the US or an EU nation like Germany, France, or the UK, it would rightfully seen for what it is: an act of war that threatens the very existence of a nation state subjected to it. Russia gets away with it only because the nations it tries it on are small and neither economically nor militarily strong.

Here's how wonderful and 'free of self-interest' Russia's deals are:

A few months ago Armenia was expected to sign a document with the EU. Guess what happened? Gazprom then suddenly raised prices and Armenia reversed course/changed its mind. Gazprom cut Armenia prices to $189 (had been $270). Armenia is now expected to join Putin's "Eurasian Economic Union." Know who else is on that list? Belarus (aka Europe's last dictatorship) and Ukraine (Ukraine is on it because Russia considers both Belarus and Ukraine to be satellite states).

In fact, Viktor Yanukovych who was supposed to sign documents bring Ukraine closer to the EU that had already been agreed upon - this was what the population of Ukraine wanted. Instead Yanukovycch rejected a bigger bailout from the EU for a smaller bailout from Russia and of course Gazprom promised to lower rates as a nice payoff/ deal sweetner. Of course if you don't take their off rates will skyrocket. Guess what Gazprom's doing now? That's right - they're considering raising Ukraine's rates.

In the past, when Ukraine started diversifying their natural gas imports to make them less vulnerable to Putin and Gazprom you can guess exactly what happened.

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