Posted on 04/14/2014 12:39:54 PM PDT by tcrlaf
The police in Horlivka have gone over to the side of the people.
At 10:33 Monday morning, Sergei, a freelance cameraman in this sleepy industrial town 30 miles from the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, got a call from a blocked number. The man on the line said he was from Russian state television and asked if he could film an angry mob storming the local police station. Unsure what they were talking about some anti-government activists had protested in Horlivka over the weekend but police held firm and things were now quiet Sergei, declined.
Two hours later, he realized what they meant. Horlivkas police station was a wreck, with most of its windows smashed in and several hundred working-class men milling around the lobby and courtyard, many of them wielding wooden sticks and iron batons. The police chief, who initially vowed to hold out to the end, was hospitalized after being beaten; his deputy was taken away in handcuffs to the regional government building in Donetsk, which anti-government protesters have occupied for the last week. Two figures in masks waved the black, blue, and red flag of the provincial separatist movement from the roof to loud cheers from the crowd. A man in fatigues wandered out to address them.
The police in Horlivka have gone over to the side of the people. They were always with us, he said. He claimed the officers inside had removed their Ukrainian insignia and replaced them with orange-and-black ribbons, a World War II symbol reappropriated by pro-Russians during Ukraines political crisis.
The new government in Kiev seems to have all but lost much of eastern Ukraine. By Monday afternoon, the anti-terrorist operation involving the army that acting President Oleksandr Turchynov announced the night before was nowhere to be seen...
(Excerpt) Read more at buzzfeed.com ...
About as weak as Yanukovich :-)
For a polar example look into how the Egyptian strongman, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, dealt with a similar situation:
During the August 2013 Egyptian raids, the Egyptian military under El-Sisi's command joined with the national police in removing camps of Muslim Brotherhood supporters from sit-ins being held throughout the country. This action resulted in rapidly escalating violence that eventually led to the deaths of 638 people, of whom 595 were civilians and 43 police officers, with at least 3,994 injured.
The end result? El-Sisi is still there, and he is not leaving any time soon. This is what a real strongman does to his opponents. Yanukovich is not even close. And besides, why should an elected President be brave and ruthless? He is not a dictator who fears for his life. Democracy presumes voluntary acceptance of things. It was a good decision to walk away; now the population of Ukraine will figure out who came to power, why, and what should be done about that.
Just under half of of voters voted for Yanukovich, the president who was overthrown in the coup. Some of the those people are in Crimea and some of those people will tolerate the new, unelected gov’t, but no one should kid himself that there are not a lot of Ukrainians who do not accept the current gov’t as legitimate. These folks are not all Russian agents.
How would Democrats or Republicans in America act if a coup overthrew their president? Many would not accept it and some would get militant.
This is why fomenting a coup was such boneheaded move.
There is no good reason for America to be involved in Ukrainian politics the way it has been. We have no vital interests there. Our policy of pressuring Ukraine into the EU and NATO has no benefits for us, only liabilities.
“There is no good reason for America to be involved in Ukrainian politics the way it has been. We have no vital interests there.”
The “Interest” was to put pressure on Putin, after he embarrassed Obama, and made him look like a fool, in the wake of the Syrian Incident last year.
Remember all of the articles stating that they would “Get Back!” at Putin for that?
Well, as usual, everything the Radical Obamunist Administration touches turns to crap, just like this.
You sum it up very nicely but sadly will get the usual "Putinista" "Putin Buttboy" or "Westboro member?" from the usual suspects.
I see no love for Putin in your post, just common sense that sadly many here seem to be lacking on this issue.
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