"I just wonder whether all the civil strife going on in the Ukraine right now is purely a local issue."
No. The "Orange Revolution" which brought Julia Timoshenko into power, prior to Yanukovych, was funded by the West and there is no doubting that the West is desperate to weaken Russia further which they can do via taking Ukraine into the EU or gain control via IMF loans and other assistance.
Someone was paying to bus protesters into the Maidan and Soros has been said to have been one arm of the financing. No doubt much more to the conflict than we will ever know.
Russia has troops mobilised in the Crimea and the Parliament there has been taken over by pro-Russian radicals who have hoisted the Russian flag there.
Hopefully this doesn't escalate into a major conflict. If 'Monsters Inc.' want a major conflict, then that's what we'll get.
