Red Square
The People’s Cube
2/22/2014
Ukrainian revolution has won today and it’s very emotional for me, since that is where I was born and raised. 82 protesters are dead, the president is running, government thieves are being hunted down and brought to justice, communist party headquarters ransacked, and all remaining statues of Lenin and other communist leaders torn down all over Ukraine.
I spent all day watching live feed from the victory rally on Independence Square, or Maidan (pronounced as My-DONE) in Kiev, wishing I were there. In fact, this is the first time in almost 20 years that I’ve been in the US that I wanted to be back in Ukraine and celebrate. So many memories, so much to say. So excuse me if I don’t write more now. Perhaps, later.
There are photos you should see at The People’s Cube.
Also at the site, from December 2013, Ukrainian priest blesses sledgehammer that smashes Lenin
It’s not safe to be a communist monument in Kiev right now, where enormous crowds – the Ukrainian equivalent of Tea Party – are causing disturbances to the government, protesting the recent move away from Europe and back into the familiar embrace of Mother Russia…
Read the whole thing.
Related: St. Michael’s Monastery Is Sanctuary For Kiev Protesters During Violent Ukraine Outbreaks
…In three months of protest since President Viktor Yanukovich turned his back on a deal with the European Union, St. Michael’s has emerged as spiritual protector of those who would bring him down.
The monastery’s role speaks to the divide dogging this country of 46 million people, split by language, geography and history.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, to which St. Michael’s belongs, has historically walked an independent line from Russia, the dominant voice in Orthodox Christianity and also Yanukovich’s key foreign ally.
The patriarchate has actively supported the calls of the protesters for Ukraine to shift its alliances west towards the European Union, something Yanukovich spurned in November last year under pressure from Moscow.
His decision threw the sprawling country into turmoil….
In this file photo taken on Friday, Jan. 24, 2014, Orthodox priests pray as they stand between pro-European Union activists and police lines in central Kiev, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, file)
The Daily Mail has photos and video from earlier today:
Anti-government protesters stand front of a poster showing jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in the Independence Square in Kiev
Also at site some amazing photographs of the deposed President’s home and property: House fit for a tyrant: Protestors storm the sprawling, luxury estate of Ukraine’s fugitive president which has its own private zoo, golf course and is half the size of Monaco
A beautiful forested estate of graceful waterways, summer houses and exotic gardens.
This is the home of Ukraine’s fugitive president, who was dramatically ousted from power after one of the worst periods of violence in the country’s history.
Ukraniains streamed to see Viktor Yanukovich’s luxury estate, which has been closed off to the world for nearly a decade, and rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they were confronted by the scale of the opulence he built around him.
The property in Mezhyhirya, an hours drive from Kiev, has a golf course, helicopter pad and is situated in a country where the average salary is less than £300 [$498.00 US] a month.Below the house, a garage is filled with classic sports cars worth millions, while in the exotic gardens Australian and African ostriches stretch their legs…
As Ukraine burns, a stark warning from our most authoritative historian of Eastern Europe
Television pictures of revolutions can make them seem like a spectator sport.
Having Vitali Klitschko, the world heavyweight boxing champion, playing a starring role in the events in Kiev reinforces that impression.
But the implosion of the Ukrainian state in the last 48 hours is a political earthquake.
Chaos in Kiev could set off a tsunami that will toss Western Europe from its moorings too.
It is a mistake to think we are watching from a safe distance.
Maybe Ukraine is as foreign to the British people today as it was when an obscure crisis on its southern coast in Queen Victoria’s reign became the Crimean War.
But not since the 1850s has this country come so close to colliding with Russia.
Ukraine sits on the fault line dividing Eastern Europe between pro-Western and pro-Russian views. Her people are split over attitudes to the old imperial capital, Moscow…
…Given Ukraine’s desperate economic mess, meeting the EU’s requirements was not really an option.
Worse still, Kiev needed billions of dollars to service its huge debt to Western banks. But the West wasn’t willing, or able, to lend any more.Putin’s huge oil and gas revenues seemed to give Russia the trump card. The Kremlin offered Ukraine a soft loan but on condition it stopped associating with the EU.
This was a red rag to the pro-Western Ukrainians.
But what complicates matters and makes them so dangerous now is that the most militant pro-Western protesters are violently anti-Russian…
Ukrainian Protesters Tear Down Statues of Socialist Leader Lenin & Smash Them to Bits (video)
Ukrainian protesters tore through towns all over their nation, ripping down statues of Vladimir Lenin, the communist dictator who had forced the Ukrainians under the Russian yoke after the Bolshevik revolution….
A coup in Ukraine: Yanukovich flees, Tymoshenko Free (video)
WIRE: Country Could Be Split in Two
…There is also the matter of outside forces. It is not just that the people of Eastern Ukraine feel closer to Russia. Russia also has more at stake than just history if Ukraine falls into the sphere of the European Union. Energy and industrial ties and a major Russian naval base are all in play. Not to mention Russia feeling Western creep and Putin’s fear of losing face and the loss of his grip on power that is sure to come with it.
To those familiar with Russian history, a warning/news article released by The Voice of Russia Saturday morning will sound more than a little ominous: “Moscow calls on Ukraine’s authorities to ensure safety for Russians and compatriots.”…
Ukraine Women’s Biathlon Relay Wins Gold Amid Devastatig Protests in Kiev
…”When I came to the podium I cried, and tried to hide it behind the skis,” Valj Semerenko said. “It was not only my tears, but the tears of the whole Ukraine.”…
Update: via Matt Bracken “Why Ukraine Matters in one map”
Update 2: Russian Communist Party Head Waves Soviet Flag At Sochi Games…
