[tcrlaf]

I’m NOT taking Russia’s side, I’m posting the latest news.

I’m trying to understand, to the best of my limited abilities, what is REALLY going on, from the propaganda being thrown around by ALL sides.

That I don’t trust what is coming out of Washington says volumes in itself.

[Corporate Democrat]

Take what the media says with a grain of salt, and look at what the Ukrainian people are actually saying. I'd suggest delving in with Google Translate and Chrome, and you'll find that on social media and even on the major Russian-language forums in Ukraine, the people seem to be rather supportive of the Maidan government in resisting Putin's aggression.

The Maidan government is not very popular overall though, but mainly because of the co-opting of the Ukrainian oligarchs and perceived weakness against Putin (and Yulia being the inevitable candidate...again). In other words, it's actually disliked more due to the return of the unpopular Yushchenko elites, not because of the 'neo-Nazi Banderist Svoboda takeover'. Most seem to have sided with the Maidan government for now though, due to the ‘rally around the flag’ effect.

Svoboda seems to be viewed as a small, loud and troublesome faction massively played up by the Russians.

And yes, there is a significant minority (maybe 10-30%) of Russian-speakers in Eastern Ukraine that actually do want Russia to annex the East, but it's clearly a minority and even they are rather ambivalent with the Russian infiltrators and their paid crowds.

The only ones who are not viewing Putin as the aggressor over there are the Russian trolls who admit to coming from there to 'give their side of the story'.