Posted on 02/23/2014 10:39:13 AM PST by 1rudeboy
KIEV, Ukraine — A day after President Viktor F. Yanukovych fled the Ukrainian capital and was removed from power by a unanimous vote in Parliament, lawmakers moved swiftly on Sunday to dismantle the remaining vestiges of his government by firing top cabinet members, including the foreign minister.
With Parliament, led by the speaker, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, firmly in control of the federal government — if not yet the country as a whole — lawmakers began an emergency session on Sunday by adopting a law restoring state ownership of Mr. Yanukovych’s opulent presidential palace, which he had privatized.
Parliament voted to grant Mr. Turchynov authority to carry out the duties of the president of Ukraine, adding to his authority to lead the government that lawmakers had approved on Saturday.
Beyond that, Parliament did not take any further action to appoint interim leaders, but speculation about an immediate major role for the freed former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, was squashed on Saturday afternoon when she issued a statement asking not to be considered for the post again.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
My Father is also Ukrainian. Came over with his parents and brother in ‘48. He was two yeas old at the time.
Putin will sell natural gas to any customer, and having the pipelines running thru a free Ukraine gives the Ukrainians a bargaining chip in the price negotiations.
I see this opinion a lot: maybe you should ask yourself, whom do you favor?
My immediate reaction would say the Ukrainians(as I would favor the Hungarians in 1956 and the Czechs in 1968 in similar situations against the Russians). But I think I need to be better educated about the dynamics, politics and history of all sides in this scenario before I fully endorse them.
After the USSR was dissolved, some countries made it happen, some muddled along, and some reverted. Hope that doesn't complicate anything. :)
I tend to be against the protestors as I think if I were a Ukranian I would want my home heated by real Russian natural gas as opposed to the non-existent natural gas that the EU can provide. Of course memories of the 1920s might take a while to fade away...
impimp, have you ever actually been to Ukraine? I was just there 3 months ago. Just 2 weeks before the protests started, I got harrassed by policemen in Maidan for not having my passport on me. My passport was safely locked up in my apartment per intructions on the US State Department website. They were trying to extract a bribe from me to let me go and threatened to arrest me, book me, and make be pay a 1200 Hrivna fine (about $125) that would have put me in the Interpol database and made it more difficult for me to ever enter the country again. They let me go after I followed them to a police station not far from the Maidan when I got out my cell phone and asked if I could make a call. The next day my guide/interpreter had me get a laminated xerox copy of my passport picture and signature page as well as the visa page for me to carry around in the police bothered me again.
In short the whole country was very corrupt including the police. If I were an ordinary citizen there and had to cope with that corruption and the lack of economic opportunity there every day, I think I would have gone over the breaking point long ago. The problem with Russian domination of Ukraine started under the czars and continued under the Soviet Union. BTW Stalin's Holomodor of Ukraine was in the 1930's not the 1920's.
Bravo and amen!!!
My husband was at a board meeting (here in the U.S.) the last few days of the week, and while working board business they were also watching in real time events happening while the Americans who live over there and work with Ukrainians gave a lot of insight into the situation.
One neat story is that a friend of theirs has had a prayer for years that Ukrainians would become more united, that people would learn to not fear their neighbors and actually become friends with their neighbors. There was still so much fear and mistrust left over from the Soviet era.
He said that after the events of this week, that prayer was being answered and people were actually smiling and talking to their neighbors, hugging each other and not afraid! They were also crying together. There was a funeral in the Maidan for the many, many who had died, it was just a non-stop event for 24 hours, of singing, tears and speeches – really moving.
The American friends were interpreting a little of the speeches – it was really amazing. Yulia Tymoshenko as everyone knows, was released from prison. She had been badly beaten many times, and is now in a wheelchair. She was a good president. She had put many Christians into cabinet posts and was trying to clean up corruption. She spoke at the funeral service and praised the Ukrainians, saying that “they (the average people who worked together to win the battle) were the real heroes.”
Another neat thing is that the Orthodox priests and other pastors in Kiev have been wonderful. They are using a big orthodox church in downtown Kiev as a makeshift hospital, and they are allowing them to bring the wounded in to the cathedral, and all are working together to gather food, medicine and other help.
The priests and pastors, and leaders of Maidan are also urging everyone not to vindictively seek revenge. Hold criminals accountable, yes, but not to bitterly extend the violence for revenge.
One example is that one of the instances where it was reported that the protesters had “kidnapped” some of the police was completely mis-reported. A lot of the police were young kids that Yanuvich had brough in from poor regions of Ukraine, who were desparate for jobs and money. The Maidan people had captured a group of these "police", but they didn’t kidnap them, they turned the bus around and sent it back to their hometown! That is a lot of mercy for these kids who had been really brutal to them in other situations.
I truly believe, in contrast to many of the cynical on FR, that this is a true revolution (or maybe counter-revolution?) of ordinary people who just want to be free of this corrupt government, not a movement fueled by the NWO, or Nazis,or Muslims, or John McCain or other theories. They have been oppressed for decades, first by Soviets, then by Nazis, then by Soviets again, and finally by these mafia/oligarchs who are really just the old corrupt Soviet elites under a different name. Even though they were “officially” not part of the Soviet Union, they had still not completely thrown off the bonds of those days.
Not to say some bad elements won’t try to take advantage of the somewhat chaotic situation right now.I'm sure there are many on the fringes just hoping to find a way to corrupt the system to benefit and put themselves into power.
I ask Freepers to please pray for Ukraine, that they would continue showing mercy, that they would really have free and fair elections,that they would have wisdom and find really honest people to represent them, and that Putin wont try to re-enact 1956 Hungary.
Here is a good article:
On the Maidan, the birth of a real Ukrainian civil society
The Maidan, therefore, has not spawned a civil war, but the birth of an authentic Ukrainian civil society. It is the culmination of an agonizing 20-year process of de-Sovietization of Ukrainian society, a process that has progressed faster in some regions than in others. The Maidan is a watershed moment, when the nation shed the mental chains of Soviet paternalism. One opposition leader described the statues of Lenin being spontaneously hauled down around the country as Ukraine’s psychological Berlin Wall. It is characterized by a shift in mentality – a distrust of all of the country’s institutions, including political parties, governing or opposition.
awesome post. Thank You
Thank you very much for that report. Prayers for Ukraine.
For their freedom and from any outside influence that may not have the best interest of the people as their motivation.
[ I don’t know about all of this.
I was all in favor...and then this morning I saw that John McCain had been over there in the middle of the protests.
I do not trust that man or his puppet masters. ]
I worry too, about all that NGO money coming into there and EU money and the influence from pooty poot...
I don;t really much like either side the situation seems to be tilting towards, I don;t trust the EU and I don;t trust Russia either...
[ Yanukovych hiding in a bunker?...
with 650 million dollars in cash. ]
He forgot Prepper Rule #1...
the only metals that help in a bunker are brass and lead...
I bet gold would be an acceptable substitute for lead if one were to run out of lead.
brave indeed, starting at the 12:00 mark there are numerous dead/wounded near the tree with the the band, from then on i counted 10 that i SAW get hit and they carried off another 15-20 anyway and were still carrying them off or tending to the wounded at the end of the video... all prolly shot by the same sniper, no more than 2-3 max
i wish they would of started burning tires much sooner screen the rescuers and the wounded as they were carried to safer ground
Their bravery cannot be understated. They did what they could with what they had.
I feel ashamed thinking we do so little by comparison.
HIP, HIP!
100%!!! wasn't disparaging them in the least... it was a real killing ground for sure
Everyone has a price. It appears that yours is the price to heat your home.
Obviously you never read the history of our Colonial troops suffering though the winter of 1777 without heat... or shoes.
If I had to go without heat for 5 years just to get rid of Obama and his commie administration, I would do it in a heartbeat.
Maybe since I live in Southern California it might be more of a burden to give up air conditioning, but I'd give up both and more.
Pray that this revolution is like ours. Liberty or death!
Sorry, didn’t mean to imply that you were. Opposite actually. Was adding my own thoughts and feelings.
FReegards...
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