Sadly, what you say is true.

I believe that greed is the driving factor more thant stupidity.

"You have something i want. I'm going to take it from you, how ever I have to."

It is my understanding that ther are huge deposits of valuable Ore in the Ukraine. Need i say more?

As to why we are paying more attention to this? I think that Randy Runtsch made some good points. I also think that there is the very real fear that things might escalate and we might ALL be involved in a way that no one wants. Like a nuke.

Because although I believe that greed is a strong motivaor for Putin I also think that he has turned the corner and is quite mad. Mad people can make really bad decisions.