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In Ukraine turbulence, a lad from Lviv becomes the toast of Kiev
reuters.com ^ | February 25, 2014 | Richard Balmforth

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Russia
KEYWORDS: eussr
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Are you saying that the “protestors” were not throwing firebombs at the police? What would happen to “protestors” throwing firebombs at the Secret Service guarding the White House?


21 posted on 02/26/2014 5:01:45 PM PST by Count of Monte Fisto (The foundation of modern society is the denial of reality.)
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To: Count of Monte Fisto

Yanukovych can tell it to the judge when he is on trial for murder.


22 posted on 02/26/2014 7:15:28 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
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To: freeandfreezing

The mob in the streets was the cause of what happened next. Parliament acted because it was force to do so. Not the same situation with Nixon at all.


23 posted on 02/26/2014 7:42:40 PM PST by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: Pining_4_TX
Parliament acted because it was force to do so. Not the same situation with Nixon at all.

Really? So you think if the Parliament and the majority of the country had been in favor of the existing government they would have been "forced" to impeach their own leader? That's ridiculous.

And apparently you either don't know about, or have forgotten the tens of thousands of Americans who were out marching in the streets against the government for years before Nixon was forced to resign. Including the ones who died after being shot by the National Guard while Nixon was President.

24 posted on 02/27/2014 4:18:51 AM PST by freeandfreezing
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To: freeandfreezing

Nixon was impeached for lying and a cover-up. Seems almost quaint today.


25 posted on 02/28/2014 9:58:25 PM PST by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

It was more like 33 percent, but what the hell it was still a minority. And it was a outgunned minority at that.


26 posted on 02/28/2014 10:05:45 PM PST by Jay Redhawk (Oh Crap!)
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