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Ukraine Protests

Before and After

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http://www.policymic.com/articles/8...ture-of-kiev-s-independence-square-in-ukraine
 
The entire square and surrounding streets were taken back by the protestors this morning. Security forces have more or less disappeared as it seems diplomatic efforts have brokered another truce. Don't expect much to happen tonight unless Yanukovic attempts to take back the square again, which would likely be his last order as President.
 
vadimivich said:
If you want a good primer on care to dig deeper into this situation - Alexander Motyl is a good place to start. This interview is excellent:

http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-split-partition-/25270988.html
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Good article, and I pretty much agree Yanukovych is probably done and Ukraine will not necessarily be split up. As for the violence, I think that it comes from both sides: the government's security forces and extremist radical groups on the protesters' side. I don't think the typical protester is responsible for the violence but simply caught up in it. Most people want peaceful change.
 
Again, take this with a large grain of salt as the opposition has published this, but here's a map of the divide and who's in control of which area.

regions-map-620x418.jpg
 
Pretty interesting move taking place in Ukraine Parliament. They've called session and have enough bodies to hold quorum, though a large number of those in Yanukovic's party have apparently fled the country. They have since passed a bill calling for the full demilitarization of the country, ordering all forces back to their bases. The 34 MPs that are part of Yanukovic's party voted with the opposition, making the bill legally passed.

They're now able to vote away pretty much all of the President's powers, going so far as to re-adopt the 2004 constitution, which would cripple Yanukovic's authority.
 
cookoutdeac said:
Yeah and it may be even worse than that article is letting on:

http://caracaschronicles.com/2014/02/20/the-game-changed/
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I've been pretty much everywhere in Latin America, but there's a reason I've stayed away from Venezuela. That place is fucking crazy. If you are able to avoid police strip searches/kidnapping/extortions, you still have to deal with remnants of Colombia's FARC. God forbid you make it to Caracas, which is one of the top 5 highest murder rates in the world. It's way worse than anything that was happening in Colombia in the 90's.
 
Well, look at the CIA blowing up two countries at the same time.
 
Danm, shit getting crazy. Vad is this spilling over to Bosnia? Related?
 
61raddeac said:
Danm, shit getting crazy. Vad is this spilling over to Bosnia? Related?
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No, not at all related. The recent protests started because of the privatization and subsequent bankruptcy of an industrial region called Tuzla. Lack of jobs, missing pay, etc. It spread because the government there is so convoluted that almost nothing gets done.

Bosnia is a really confusing political situation because of the way it was set up after the Dayton Accord. There are numerous levels of government that don't have very clear divisions of power. Then within each of these levels there are huge ethnic divides which are built into the system. There are three Presidents for instance. A large percentage of the populace has finally had enough of politicians trying to pit the ethnic sides against one another and are taking their anger out on the political system instead.

It's actually kind of cool to see "Bosniaks", Croats, and Serbs all protesting together. Politicians have started to come out and admit the current system is a mess and reform needs to be made to simplify the system and address the will of the people. Hopefully it will happen without the need for further violence.
 
Does anybody?

It seems to be just garden variety disgust with bad government and a bad economy turning strident, rather than something ideological. But I really don't know.
 
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