Posted on 02/25/2014 1:30:01 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
When the history of the bloody turbulence in Ukraine is written, a 26-year-old who learned combat skills in the army cadets may be recorded as the man who made up Viktor Yanukovich's mind to cut and run.
Cars toot a welcome and passers-by press the hand of Volodymyr Parasiuk, a boyish-looking individual who finds it embarrassing to be called a hero.
He reserves that title for his comrades and other protesters among the 80 or so people killed on the capital's streets last week in three days of fighting against Yanukovich's police.
But after opposition leaders had signed an EU-brokered deal with President Yanukovich to end the conflict, it was Parasiuk who commandeered the microphone on Friday night to turn the crowd against it.
With former boxing champion and opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko looking on stony-faced, Parasiuk, from the western city of Lviv, made an electrifying impromptu speech denouncing the opposition for "shaking hands with this killer".
No-one was going to wait for an election later in the year, he said. Yanukovich had to get out of town by the following morning or face the consequences.
To the dismay of opposition leaders, Parasiuk's emotional address - he broke down on several occasions as he remembered dead comrades - touched a chord deep within the thousands on Independence Square who roared their approval.
The opposition had failed to sell their achievements to the 'Maidan', the name for both the square and the protest movement.
An agreement, painstakingly negotiated with EU foreign ministers over a sleepless night, was effectively dead.
The writing was on the wall for Yanukovich.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Who will be our Volodymyr Parasiuk when we need him? I hope we he comes forward soon!
Is it really that easy for a few thousand people to take over a whole country? It reminds me of the Bolshevik Revolution. The Communists basically took over a few buildings in St. Petersburg and suddenly they were in control of the whole country. How does that happen?
What would happen if a few hundred foreign funded "protesters" started throwing Molotov cocktails at the Secret Service guarding the White House?
“Is it really that easy for a few thousand people to take over a whole country? It reminds me of the Bolshevik Revolution.”
Yes, a firebomb throwing mob, of a few thousand took over. And like the Bolsheviks, they were supported by Germany, for German (EU) goals.
Nobody seems to worry much about how the majority felt.
Only about 3 percent of the American population revolted against George III.
Your post insinuates that the people in Ukraine fighting, and in some cases dying for freedom were "foreign funded protesters." What makes you think that is true? I would suggest it was evident to the government that far more than a few hundred people opposed them. Otherwise they would have done what our Secret Service would rightly do in such a circumstance - arrest the lot of them.
The Germans helped broker an agreement to end the uprising and allow Yanukovich to stay in office. If Germany was behind this uprising then it’s safe to say it’s grown out of their control.
This didn't happen overnight. A lot transpired during the past few months while the media stayed silent keeping us in the dark. The so-called "Protesters" braved the coldest months on that Square. Those who couldn't be there, helped how they could. People prayed. Meanwhile in the good ol' USA, the OWS crowd packed up their tents at the first sign of cold weather. The Tea Party is wishy washy.
America hasn't reached her do or die moment yet.
Good.
Still time to find more ammo and prep goods then.
There is some speculation that Soros funded the protesters in order to cause upheaval and benefit from messing around with currencies.
Why is this portrayed as some kind of democratic movement? Half of the country wants to be aligned with the EU and half with Russia. The elected government was overthrown by the people who wanted to ally with the EU. I fail to see this as some great movement towards freedom. In fact, Russia may be freer than most of the EU countries now, in a strange reversal of roles.
Why do we assume we can find bad guys and good guys in any conflict, when it usually boils down to factions fighting for power and spouting lies to fool the people? The woman who was just released from prison carries some suspicious baggage as well.
“Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.” ~ Franz Kafka
“Is it really that easy for a few thousand people to take over a whole country?”
I think there was a perception by the government that much of the country was about to boil over. Those few thousands were just the tip of the spear.
We saw similar things happen in other communist-block nations, such as Romania. When a majority of the population becomes outraged, the leaders usually recognize a lost cause and scoot, because they won’t be able to kill enough people to stem the tide. Hopefully this will happen in Venezuela soon.
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." The Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene V.
And some stand on a corner with a ‘Will work for FOOD’ sign.
>>The Germans helped broker an agreement to end the uprising and allow Yanukovich to stay in office. If Germany was behind this uprising then it’s safe to say it’s grown out of their control<<
Well, when Germans sent Lenin to St.Peterburg to overthrow Tsarist government and knock Russia out of the war in 1917, they haven’t realized that just in 30 years they’ll be forced to bow to said Lenin’s portraits in Berlin and learn Russian just to get any decent job.
Actually, the elected government was overthrown by the Parliament, whose votes to impeach and/or remove the existing leadership caused the actual shift in control. Those voting included members of all of the parties, including Yanukovich's own party.
I guess by your logic in our nation when Nixon resigned our elected government was overthrown by the people too, except we didn't even need the impeachment vote.
He may already be among us in plain sight.
There is no comparison. The Continental Congress was made up of the elected representatives of each of the elected state governments. They voted unanimously to secede and fielded a uniformed army. That army fought over almost the entire breadth of the 13 colonies.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, Nuland said: "Since the declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1991, the United States supported the Ukrainians in the development of democratic institutions and skills in promoting civil society and a good form of government - all that is necessary to achieve the objectives of Ukraine's European. We have invested more than 5 billion dollars to help Ukraine to achieve these and other goals." Nuland said the United States will continue to "promote Ukraine to the future it deserves."
If the Ukrainian government had used the army to put down the insurrection, which is their right as a sovereign nation - just ask Abe Lincoln, they would have had US/NATO bombs raining down on their heads. Hell they are saying Yanukovych committed war crimes and crime against humanity because the police dared try to defend themselves against firebomb throwing "protestors".
The police weren’t defending themselves, they were shooting people with sniper rifles who were not directly threatening them. That’s murder. Yanukovych made exactly the wrong move and now he will pay for it. Last time he survived politically because he didn’t try to use force against his own people. Not this time. Whine all you want.
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.