[WestVirginiaRebel]

Or maybe the Poles, having suffered under Russian rule thmesleves, simply want to show their support for the right of the Ukrainians to decide their own future?

[trebb]

Yes, and they were betrayed by their "own folks" from the inside and in collusion with Russia. Many parallels here.

[Red6]

Bingo!

I think those nations that suffered and had to bleed for freedom and their republic have a different view and feeling towards their liberties and state than those who just had it "given" to them.

Red6

[Destro]

The communists rule the Poles now, just under their post Warsaw pact name - the same communist party that was in power during the Cold War and broke up Solidarity changed its name and evicted Solidarity from power in landslide elections (This is what Paul probably read here on FR).

What Poland want is influence over Western Ukraine which has a Slavic Catholic majority population while the East is Orthodox. Also it is an area that Polish nationalists still claim as their own based on when Poland had imperial holdings there until the Cossacks drove them out.

The Ukraine is not like most European countries. It is not a nation state based on ethnicit and there is no Ukranian ethnicity - Ukraine simply means 'boderland'.