Ukraine sets European course after ouster of Yanukovich

Reuters ^ | 02/23/2014 | By Natalia Zinets and Alessandra Prentice

[Carbonsteel]

Reuters) - Ukraine's interim leadership pledged to put the country back on course for European integration now Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich had been ousted from the presidency, while the United States warned Russia against sending in its forces.

As rival neighbors east and west of the former Soviet republic said a power vacuum in Kiev must not lead to the country breaking apart, acting president Oleksander Turchinov said late on Sunday that Ukraine's new leaders wanted relations with Russia on a "new, equal and good-neighborly footing that recognizes and takes into account Ukraine's European choice".

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

This is good. Ukraine needs to be rid of the gangster-Russian yoke.

[Paladin2]

Why can't Ukraine integrate in both directions?

What economic attributes are either/or?

[Reaganez]

Because EU integration forces Ukraine to discriminate against non-EU products and citizens.

Last I read Russia wanted a customs union not a free trade area with the former Soviet republics. Again forcing it to discriminate against non-member states.

You can’t be part of two exclusionary clubs that exclude each other.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

They really do. But I’m also worried about them joining the corrupt, socialist EU.

[castlegreyskull]

I wonder if the Russians are waiting for the Olympics to end to deal with this.

[faithhopecharity]

This may well have many good outcomes. Russia still has tremendous economic, resources, transport, strategic, historical, and ethnic interests in Ukraine. If EU/Germany gets too much say or control over Ukraine, you can pretty well bet that there will be a serious Russian response. (Why does WW2 keep coming to mind?)

[wonkowasright]

Is president any relation to Weird al Yankovich ?

[RedMDer]

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[Argus]

No, and Weird Al is not related to late great Polka King Frankie Yankovic either.

[Dr. Ursus]

There is no beer in heaven; that’s why we drink it here!

[dfwgator]

They may have to give back Crimea to get it, though.

[Vince Ferrer]

I don’t believe Russia will tolerate that. At minimum, Ukraine will split along language lines, and the Russian speaking areas will go to Russia.

[goldstategop]

A shrunken Ukraine could choose the EU. The Russian-speaking east and south could be absorbed by Russia.

Every one would be happy. I don’t think Western Ukrainians would use force to keep the country together because no one would win and it would provoke Russian intervention.

A civilized divorce may be the most humane way out of a tense crisis.

[Navy Patriot]

Ukraine sets Socialist European course after ouster of Yanukovich

[1066AD]

Hmmm, once again a freely elected leader is overthrown and then pro-EU people replace him.

Just where will EU get the billions in aid needed by Ukraine ?

[PUGACHEV]

The Russian's won't be happy until until all their neighbors are satellite states, as before. There no room for a truly independent Ukraine in the Russian worldview no matter what language the people living there speak.

[Steven Tyler]

Russia needs the ports and the pipelines carrying fossil fuels to Europe

[caveat emptor]

At minimum, Ukraine will split along language lines, and the Russian speaking areas will go to Russia

Ukrainians may face some very difficult choices in living so close to the Russian Bear. But many ethnic Ukrainians are Russian speakers and linguistic considerations won't necessarily trump ethnic ones.

See map below. Yellow and tan areas have ethnic Ukrainians who mostly (yellow)and predominantly (tan) speak Russian. Brown stripes indicate significant Russian ethnic population, while brown indicates ethnic Russian majority. See here for link to article and map by "a Ukrainian-descended American software developer, based for the last two years here in Lviv, in western Ukraine, about 300 miles from the capital, Kyiv, where the worst of the recent civil unrest has taken place."

.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

Both directions? Are you drunk?