Wow - exciting end to the events... poetic. So sad all the dead and wounded.
I had no idea the leader of the Rebel Alliance was so hot!
Is Putin massing ‘his’ armor near the border?
Police and soldiers will be standing in line to surrender.
This is not a coincidence. Yanukovych is reportedly in Kharkiv, a pro-Yanukovych stronghold (or it’s supposed to be), and he’s at a conference of the “Ukrainian Front,” a collection of politicians, and pro-government street thugs, who are willing to die for the President. But as a recent article by John Schindler, on The XX Committee, points out, the Ukranian Front appears to be deeply influenced and controlled by the Russian government. In fact, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, Alexei Pushkov, is present in Kharkiv right now. Here’s what the report has to say about the nature of the Ukrainian Front:
It seems Moscow is not pleased with its protege Yanukovych and his inability to crush the opposition, so it is forming a new grouping to “assist” the hardliners. Given that the appearance of the Ukrainian Front has been heralded with a birth announcement in the Kremlin’s official newspaper, Russian approval and support can be assumed.
Moreover, the embrace of Stalinist-era rhetoric by the Ukrainian Front indicates a great deal, and will serve as a needless irritant towards Ukrainians who detest Stalin and his murderous legacy. In a similar vein, Communist activists have unveiled a bust of Stalin in Western Ukraine, a provocation that is about as offensive to most locals there as a statue of Hitler would be in the rest of Europe. Of course, hailing Stalin’s victories in the 1940′s is of a piece with the current Kremlin vilification campaign against all Ukrainians who do not want their country to be subjugated by Russia, a nasty agitprop line that regrettably has Western supporters, not all of them unwitting dupes.
Now that the Ukrainian Front has entered the picture, with Moscow’s imprimatur, expect the situation in Ukraine to only get worse. It would be difficult to overstate the danger Ukraine and Europe are in at the moment thanks to intimidation, meddling and provocation by Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. European governments would be well advised to not permit naked Russian interference of a violent and coercive sort in Ukrainian politics: this cannot end well.
And now we have rallies in Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Fleet is anchored, in favor of reuniting with Russia (jump to update 1410).
I had know knowledge of this woman until this event! Having read up on her she seems like a true small ‘d’ democrat trying to turn a soviet style government into a capitalistic democracy. It’s clear it would not be easy. Entrenched special interests play hard ball with their power positions and fear of losing them!