generalspeaking

Ukraine's Anguish

Though it began with Ukrainian opposition parties leading mass protests against the government of President Viktor Yanukovych for his high-handed dismissal of the people's will preferring an alliance with the European union to rescue them from their dismal economic plight and high unemployment, it was to the Russian Republic that Mr. Yanukovych felt his country's highest advantage lay. And consequently, after great consideration, he shrugged off the EU offers for assistance and clasped Russian President Vladimir Putin's outstretched hand in an economic rescue.

Neatly hauling Ukraine back into the orbit of the dominating country whose grasp they were relieved to escape with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Ukraine hasn't fared too well since then either; joining the European Union would have given them a leg up and the helping hand they needed, but their extremis responded to the blandishments of Russia, because there are Russian Ukrainians who feel more comfortable as Russian satellites and they supported Mr. Yanukovych.

Now, many of them are less certain, and it seems that Mr. Yanukovych's strength in popular support appears to be somewhat waning. It's quite amazing how short-sighted rulers of the autocratic variety can be. President Yanukovych obviously thought the Russian model would work well for Ukraine. After all, Vladimir Putin is hugely adored by Russians who like their leaders blunt and forceful, and Mr. Putin does his utmost to oblige.

Ukrainians are different and they obviously have longer memories. Millions of Russians may have been slaughtered by Joseph Stalin and their memories have grown dim yet fond, but the millions of Ukrainians who died of starvation through Russian connivance and neglect are recalled by those who detest the very thought of aligning themselves now with Russia, hauling back miserable old memories best laid aside, unforgivable as they are.

The speed with which the peaceful protests turned violent is owed entirely to the 'security' laws imposed to prevent those protests from continuing. A parliamentary move that echoed Russia's determined attempts to isolate and negate its own opposition, by detaining and arresting its leaders and outlawing mass protests. It hasn't worked too well in Ukraine. The opposition leaders were themselves appalled at the swift turn to violence and appealed for calm, but to little avail.

Ukrainian police and young and determined protesters have been having at one another, doing violence to one another, and widening the breach day by day. The government's first feeble attempts to placate the protests fell on deaf ears, and now the divide is so wide that a civil conflict seems possible. The latest capitulations have made little inroad in the consciousness of the protest movement who will accept nothing less than the downfall of Viktor Yanukovych.

The barricades, the battles, and the right-wing factions, splinter groups that have separately begun their own war against the government have added a lethal tone to the proceedings. All the more so as they act outside organized leadership in defiance of the opposition parties, and worryingly to the point where some activists are turning weapons on one another.

Labels: Conflict, Crisis Management, Revolution, Ukraine

posted by Pieface @ Friday, January 31, 2014