Ukraine

The following article is a combination of three separate articles that I wrote while the situation has unfolded. As I’ve watched I have made predictions as to what will happen next and they have all came true. The second part is now of course irrelevant because the man did lose his job. The third was written Easter weekend. 

Ukraine

The world is dominated by spheres of political and economic influence. Ukraine was once a Soviet state one of several dominated by the largest state, Russia. In 1991 the people revolted and the states declared independence. Ukraine is an independent nation now, until 2004 the government still had strong ties to Russia. That year everything changed when the people backed a pro-western candidate that wanted to bring about change to Ukraine. The election was riddled with corruption as the pro-Russian government saw its demise. The election was eventually settled in court and the pro-west government took power who has since strengthened ties with the democratic European Union.

Today, Ukrainians have taken to the streets protesting the governments wishes to strengthen ties with Russia. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president has slapped Ukraine with sanction, restricting trade and making life uncomfortable for Ukrainians in an attempt to sway opinion. The protests turned violent when the government made it illegal to protest around or blockade government buildings. The protestors seized government buildings and protests spread outside the capital over the weekend when a protestor was killed in clashes with police. Monday night the president reversed his decision and submitted his resignation.

The Ukrainian government fears its people, as all governments should. It is the people who gives them power, and it is the people who will take it away. That is why we were given the second amendment, so you could keep arms in your residency, and bear them against an oppressive government. The occupy wall street wall street protest got cold and went home. In Ukraine they put a barrel in the street and start a fire in it. In America the police would have dispersed the protest  and arrested them for a “violation of city code” and they would have went home and paid the fine. This is what brings about CHANGE! Not voting, not ranting, but standing up for what you believe in and when you do get arrested what do you say? I plead the second!

Viktor Yanukovych

The situation in Ukraine has continued to deteriorate. The citizens are demanding president Yanukovych to appoint a prime minister to lead parliament in an opposing government. Lines have now been drawn, protestors are now referred to as the opposition and they are now in direct negotiations with the president. Sunday the government agreed to release all protestors from jail in exchange for the opposition abandoning Kiev city hall and opening a road into the city that the opposition had barricaded and guarded by guards with gas masks and baseball bats.

What’s at stake? Russian president Vladimir Putin has offered a trade deal, $15 billion in cash and natural gas below market price. The IMF has offered Ukraine a $16.5 billion loan. Yanukovich want to pursue  the deal with Putin for the cheap fuel source to boost the Ukrainian economy. Western Ukraine favors Europe and the east has  close ties with Russia, especially natural gas. If the price of gas is artificially lowered for Ukraine, it will lower the price in western Ukraine also. This will effectively make the whole country dependent on Russia for fuel, which they are historically known for using this as leverage raising the price in the winter, or even worse, cutting it off completely.

Mr. Yanukovych, the people that are protesting you are the same ones that brought your party to power during the revolution ten years ago. Do not doubt that they will remove you from power if you fail to produce a favorable candidate. The people are clearly in power in Ukraine; When the government started limiting their rights they stood up for themselves. They answer to nobody but themselves. They see government exactly how it is meant to be, people appointed to represent them on the global stage. They are to provide for the people a free and prosperous structure to operate the country by. Clearly the people wish to pay market price for fuel, they do not want a hand out and they do not want to be shackled by Russia ever again. Mr. Yanukovych, you need to be quiet and do as you are told before you lose you job.

Divided Ukraine

The Russian people of eastern Ukraine have voiced their will to their government in Kiev. First by the secession of Crimea to Russia and now the seizure of government buildings and with the aid of Russian soldiers in civilian clothing have barricaded themselves inside. The Ukrainian military has attempted to use force in breaking up the protests. The separatists have given two options to the western government. They can either resign, or grant them autonomy.

President Obama and the west have called these moves illegal. They have imposed sanctions on the Russian government and corporations who have participated  with them with a second list in the making.  Shortly after the sanctions were passed, Russia cashed over a hundred billion  dollars in US treasury bonds. The American taxpayer has paid for the Russian activity in Ukraine. The government in Kiev is calling the separatists “terrorists” for using the same tactics that they used to obtain power. 

The way I look at this, the west is trying to prevent a democratic vote of the people in eastern Ukraine. How dare any person intervene in self governance of any people, no matter how big or small. We are watching another chip fly off the soviet block, where it lands and how it is dealt with will determine how the western powers deal with social uprisings in the future.