Our interest is cearly served by a free, independent, and European Ukraine. Such a state will further shift the balance of power in the EU eastward (i.e., away from France), and will--at least temporarily--halt Putin's ambitions to rebuild the Soviet empire.
A new Russia empire? Sounds like a stretch.
I think that Russia is threatened by the EU, and so is the US. Just look how the EU is treating the US. Bush can’t go there without facing government sponsored mass protest, but he is welcome in Russia. The Russia people were poll before the US election and they backed Bush. The opposite is true in Europe. Europeans HATE us! Allies change, and this is one of those times.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com