Remember Ukraine is at least 50% pro Russian.Might not be so easy for the america ally yushenko to manouvre as easily...

Also note:

US/Nato agreed not to expand eastward after the breakup of the Soviet Empire but broke the promise when the baltic states became members of Nato.

America has also been busy supporting the pro-western revolutions within the Russian lebansraum (vital space) and this had bought humiliation upon the Russians.

So called Missle Defence is blantantly geared towards containing the Russians militarily. Not sure why the US had tried to sell it off as anti-Iran.

America might use its old tactics: namely ask its 'ally'Saudi to start pumping money and arms into the Chechen cause so disrupt Russian plans and keep Russia bogged down in such internal strife...

Russia can counter by supporting the Taliban and Iraqi resistance groups through military aid. (This would be a turn of events because it was the americans through Suadia and pakistan which financed and armed the so called mujahideen when the Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1979)

..........