Whowuddathunkit.
Posted on 02/23/2014 12:29:40 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Television pictures of revolutions can make them seem like a spectator sport.
Having Vitali Klitschko, the world heavyweight boxing champion, playing a starring role in the events in Kiev reinforces that impression.
But the implosion of the Ukrainian state in the last 48 hours is a political earthquake.
Chaos in Kiev could set off a tsunami that will toss Western Europe from its moorings too.
It is a mistake to think we are watching from a safe distance.
Maybe Ukraine is as foreign to the British people today as it was when an obscure crisis on its southern coast in Queen Victoria’s reign became the Crimean War.
But not since the 1850s has this country come so close to colliding with Russia.
Ukraine sits on the fault line dividing Eastern Europe between pro-Western and pro-Russian views. Her people are split over attitudes to the old imperial capital, Moscow.
That divide is now opening up as pro-Russian districts in the East such as Kharkov and Crimea refuse to accept the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych celebrated in Kiev.
Civil war would be a tragedy for Ukraine’s people. But what makes the crisis so dangerous is the international dimension.
Since the collapse of Communism in 1991, the US and its European allies have seen keeping Ukraine independent of Russia as a key result of victory in the Cold War.
For Russians, losing Ukraine was a huge blow....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The author sounds like a drama queen. Nothing imploded. They ejected an elected official for corruption, and are attempting to regain the rule of law, instead of that of a de-facto dictator.
I do not see it going outside of the OLD Soviet Union, or the western boarder.
>>I do not see it going outside of the OLD Soviet Union, or the western boarder.<<
True, not that much. On the other hand there are numerous pipelines in Ukraine, feeding Europe with Russian oil and gas.
Who thought that the assassination of a relatively minor Hapsburg would start a major world war?
Every corrupt government, including ours, should be paying close attention to all of these events.
“On the other hand there are numerous pipelines in Ukraine, feeding Europe”
________________________________________________
Yes, I lived at the Slovnaft refinery in Bratislava, Slovakia,
2006 to Jan. 2009.
I do not know as a fact, but I assume that crude came through the Ukraine “Druzhba” pipeline to that refinery.
Would that we did the same.
One of those ships ran aground.
“The author sounds like a drama queen. Nothing imploded. They ejected an elected official for corruption, and are attempting to regain the rule of law”
The point is that democracy or majority rule can quickly devolve into something really ugly like the majority nazis and the minority jews.
I think Venezuela actually elected Chavez and his successor.
We really did elect Obama. And the people of Zimbabwe really did elect Mugabe.
And in a closely divided country, one minute you are in the majority, the next minute you are in the minority. One minute you are winning and the next you are losing.
Whowuddathunkit.
I think what is happening in the Ukraine is no more then the re-democratization of the country. The lefties will try to paint it as a socialist up rising which would be a wet dream for anyone imagining a people’s revolution. The securing of parliament, government buildings and the expected return to elections by May signal to me it was a legitimate takeover after the leader no longer reflected the will and aspirations of the people and who broke the law in doing so. Remind us of anyone?
tearing down the Lenin statues should be a clue for the lefties
I tend to agree with the Hapsburg analogy. Course, it doesn’t help that from 1905 on....the Kaiser was fully developing his war strategy and this merely served as a trigger to run his ‘short-term war’. All the way through the end of 1914....the top level of the German government felt it’d all be over by the summer of 1915, and it would be chiefly mounted against Russia. They guessed wrong on almost every single detail.
And they need a clue but they are great at ignoring stuff like that!
it’s still playing out.
If they burned a pile of the Communist Manifesto maybe the DUmmies would notice?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.