Ukraine has been struggling all year to cope with a secessionist movement in the country’s east, brought about by hostile legal changes to the status of the ethnic Russians that dominate those regions. The settlement of this civil war took a step forward, as the Ukrainian parliament voted to grant some autonomy to the breakaway regions.
A quick reminder of why they didn’t do this obvious thing in the first place, however, saw a violent backlash against the vote by the ultranationalist factions that dominate the country’s far west. They marched en masse against parliament, attacking police. One threw a hand grenade, killing a member of the national guard, and over 100 police were wounded.
The reality is that the Ukrainian government, ever since ousting the pro-Russian party, has relied heavily on nationalist support, and this split sets the stage for a major political shift, as well as the potential for more bloody violence and yet another divide in the country.
Prime Minister Arseney Yatsenyuk made a televised speech slamming the nationalists, declaring them as worse than the “Russian federation and its bandits,” his go-to description of the eastern secessionists, saying the nationalists aren’t just trying to leave the country but destroying it from within.
Yatsenyuk’s comments didn’t end there, either, as in parliament he went after the leader of the far-right Svoboda Party, asking their leader what the difference is between his party and the people attacking parliament outside.
Far-right parties have limited political power right now, but as was shown in the violent protests that ousted the pro-Russian government, and today’s attacks, they wield considerable power in the streets, and their leadership has often threatened to use their militias to impose changes if parliament doesn’t follow through.
Hmm, so there was a chance that peace might break out? Well, Uncle Sam certainly can't allow *that* to happen.
There's not enough chaos in Europe and Asia – they might still gang up on Uncle Sam. A failed state in the middle of Europe and the disruption of Europe's heating fuel would certainly slow them down…
The more Putin tries to use gas supplies as an instrument of political balckmail, the more he discredits himself and makes it clear to the internatioinal community that they are going to have to take him out by force. It will be interesting to see if he falls into the trap again this winter.
By granting autonomy to Sausagestan, the Ukrainians have once again wrongfooted Putin. To avail themselves of that autonomy, the "rebels" will have to come back into the fold and allow the Ukrainian government to exercise its authority, hold properly-supervised elections to whatever local legislature is provided for in the package and allow the election of members of the Ukrainian parliament from the constituencies in which the blocked the recent national election. And, of course, autonomy doesn't give Putin the only thing he really wants: the right to secede. The demonstrations are a warning shot accross Putin's bows and are probably very welcome to the Ukrainian government, whatever they might say publicly. The message is "no more concessions to Putin". For all those reasons, I think we'll soon be reading Mr Ditz waxing indignant, Israeli style, about how the dastardly Ukrainians have failed to keep their word! Statistics: Donetsk province: 56% Ukrainian, 38% Russian. Lugansk province: 58% Ukrainian, 39% Russian.
This incident received almost no coverage in the MSM. Good story here for AntiWar. These are the realities Washington and mainstream media want to ignore. Another example of U.S. meddling and the disaster that generally results.