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.
Great to hear from someone who has been there!