

Parliament expels Ukraine president, protesters seize his compound - lettergram
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ukraine-protest-20140221,0,1284200.story

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dmix
Meanwhile the Kremlin is not hiding their anger with the situation and isn't
relenting in their interference. Russian intelligence agencies have been busy
creating and arming their own "Ukrainian Front” as a resistance to the
protesters. I'm curious what Russia will do next and if conflict will
continue.

This is the type of crisis situation intelligence agencies love to exploit.
Using citizens for proxy wars to further their interests.

[http://20committee.com/2014/02/22/kremlin-denounces-
independ...](http://20committee.com/2014/02/22/kremlin-denounces-independent-
ukraine-blames-west/)

[http://20committee.com/2014/02/03/meet-moscows-new-
ukrainian...](http://20committee.com/2014/02/03/meet-moscows-new-ukrainian-
front/)

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guard-of-terra
Russia will do nothing. Today, even Kharkov, the unofficial capital of eastern
Ukraine (which is supposed to be loyalist) featured a 30+k manifestation of
opposition and had president, mayor and governor fly to Russia.

It's too late for Russia to do anything and they won't even if it wasn't.

Russian here.

~~~
danmaz74
I wouldn't be surprised if Putin tried to grab Crimea though.

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throwaway_yy2Di
This is how _Pravda_ is picturing things:

" _Meanwhile, in the Crimea, people discuss an opportunity to separate from
Ukraine and address Russia with a request to be accepted in the structure of
the Russian Federation._ "

[http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/20-02-2014/12688...](http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/20-02-2014/126885-russia_ukraine_yanukovych-0/)

No idea how to interpret this.

~~~
danmaz74
That's what I meant...

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throwaway_yy2Di
Yes, I was adding context.

~~~
danmaz74
Thanks!

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IgorPartola
As a Ukrainian-American I really did not see this happening and am very
pleasantly surprised. I thought the deal announced on Friday would be it, and
the parliament would not have the backbone to deliver anything more. Turns
out, there are people in there who actually care about the fate of the
country.

Now the question is where will it go from here. From what I understand, the
opposition leaders are not exactly angels themselves, though certainly much
less criminal than Yanukovych (none of them tried to steal an election before
AFAIK).

On top of that, change in leadership does not necessarily mean change in
course. Russian/Putin can still exert quite a bit of force on any Ukrainian
president while Ukraine (just like the rest of Europe) is heavily dependent on
Russia's natural gas. So it remains to be seen if Ukraine will have enough
momentum from this victory to actually reduce corruption and turn more towards
the EU to position itself such that the talks with Russia can be done on a
more level playing field. I imagine it is hard to negotiate a deal regarding
natural gas when you are paying Russia back with borrowed money.

~~~
Mikeb85
> (none of them tried to steal an election before AFAIK)

What do you call the Orange Revolution? Especially since Yanukovych was
elected in the following round of Presidential elections?

If anything, the government has been the reasonable party in this whole
debacle, with the opposition being represented by violent fascist protesters
and racist leaders (Oleh Tyahnybok and Dmitri Yarosh have both risen to
prominence).

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jstalin
Now is the most critical and pivotal time for the protestors. All revolutions
reach the point of actually having to deliver, and it can go many ways. But
the most likely two are this: degeneration into infighting, power struggle,
and the emerging of a "strong man" who isn't any better than the last, or
everyone sitting down at the table, agreeing that it's in everyone's best
interest to work together, and putting together a slate of non-corrupted
statesmen who have the nation's best interest at heart.

Unfortunately, most revolutions go in the first direction.

~~~
gpvos
Problem is, all opposition leaders in Ukraine are corrupt too. The second
direction is highly unlikely in this case.

And the EU really won't embrace a corrupt Ukraine; they have enough problems
with Bulgaria and Romania as it is.

