The Ukraine is a pawn in a war that should be familiar to everyone -- it happens over and over and over again.

1. Pay outsiders to foment an uprising and topple the current leader (this one newly elected). Usually this is done by the IMF and World Bank, as was the case throughout South America and -- and currently the case throughout Africa (although USians have not been told yet we have boots on the ground in two dozen African nations doing this at this time).

2. Loan them money for development. If possible, force the country to put up their natural resources as collateral.

3. Make the payments so onerous, that severe austerity is forced upon the people.

4. Austerity suppresses consumerism, so while trade may take place, the domestic economy suffers.

5. When they are about to default, either seize their natural resources or make them more loans and turn them into a plantation-nation.