The group that wanted to be free of Putin's proxy president called the location where they gathered to protest President Viktor Yanukovych cave into Putin on European economic integration named the gathering point Euromaidan. It symbolized their commitment to Europe. And it is obvious to all of the countries near the prosperous parts of Europe that even the poor nations of Central and Eastern Europe that were once slaves of the Soviets have pulled way ahead of Ukraine and its economic dominance by the Putin crime family.
Putin didn't want Ukraine to have a closer trade arrangement with Europe. But most Ukrainians don't see themselves as governed from Moscow. Yanukovych started a war on his own people and killed them, like Assad in Syria. Assad and Yanukovych met peaceful assembly with premediated murder. The similarity of police snipers on rooftops shooting unarmed protesters is striking. In both countries, the people fought back with bravery and determination.
I know there are many on FReeRepublic who hate Europe. They associate Europe and its liberty and over-the-top welfare sates with homosexuality and paganism. However, would they give up their freedom to be dominated by Putin, his corrupted Church, and his phony demagogic war on fags? Some probably would. Some like Putin that much. They value the rule of law, property rights, the US Constitution, civil government, peaceful assembly, and common decency so little that they cheer on the thugs like Assad, Yanukovych, and Putin. At least they’re not Obama, they “reason.” Some cranks in the world admired Hitler the same way because at least he wasn’t Stalin. Better Hitler than Blum, they said in France before WWII.
The Putin propaganda machine branded everyone opposed to Putin's proxy control of Ukraine as a fascist. Now, there really are people in Ukraine, out of hatred for Russian chauvinism, who are fascist. Just as Assad created ISIS with his oppression of Syrians who wanted his crime family gone, just as Assad created ISIS by his alignment of al Qaeda to kill Americans in Iraq, Putin's undeclared war on a peaceful nation on Russia's borders; annexation without any legal authorities of part of that country, have created future monsters who will fight back with the same vile rationalizations.
I agree what’s happening in Ukraine is firstly about economics and trade with Europe.
If the U.S. is going to counter Putin in Ukraine, then it’ll have to be for the long run. And, the Russians will play, especially on their doorstep, Putin or not. The Europeans will leave that part to the U.S. - will add the Ukrainians aren’t exactly the innocent party in all this. So, I think it will be an ongoing and complex situation.
By the way, I’ve talked to Eastern Europeans, from former Soviet Bloc who assert their ‘liberation’ was their own doing, not due to any other intervention. True or not, that’s debatable; but that was what was expressed.
The comparison with Assad and ISIS is not quite relevant, since so far as ISIS is concerned we aren’t dealing with a nation or country, but much more an ideology which has the potential to mobilize over a billion people worldwide (Islam). Ok, not a billion, but consider a fraction of that; some won’t be muslim-born either. They aren’t country-bound.
Moreover, there is no basis to say Assad created ISIS. Of course Assad, like many in that region, has relations with ISIS, especially since ISIS gaining land and has controlled a portion of Syria. The same ‘relations’ can be said for a couple of others in that region. But, Assad, as bad as he is, is neither ideologically aligned with ISIS, nor is ISIS of any real benefit to him or his regime; in fact ISIS is much more of an existential threat to Assad than to USA or Europe.