COMMENT & ANALYSIS Poor Ukraine. For centuries this great flat fertile plain has been the battleground for other people's empires - Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, German, you name it. Then, 13 years ago, the implosion of the Soviet Union thrust nationhood upon it - a nationhood dreamt of but never seriously expected. And now the territory seems destined to become once again a zone of confrontation between external forces, the new faultline between Russia and the west.
As the cheated voters of Ukraine demonstrate in their tens of thousands on the streets of Kiev, demanding a recount to give victory to Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition candidate for president, the outside world is taking sides.
