So the Berkut just happened to be on hand and in formation with steel clubs when the “troublemakers” started “stirring up trouble” in November. Their assault was pre-meditated, and matters escalated from there.
The Maidan uprising did not cause war with Russia. Eschewing closer ties with Russia for Europe was what Ukrainians wanted, at least in the West. Remember? Three to four million Ukrainians deliberately starved to death. Was that caused by “troublemakers” “stirring up trouble”? Forced collectivization was the policy of the Kremlin, and was regarded within the Kremlin as a shining success. Ukrainians, for all the bad history of Chmelnicky and the the Holocaust, wanted self determination in 2014. When they finally got it, Russia chose to invade the Crimea.
As for me, I don’t care for the internal politics of Ukraine. It’s none of my business. They became nominally independent in 1994, and finally gained self determination in 2014, and then degenerated into a kleptocracy, and corruption continues to be ubiquitous all over Eastern Europe, as it was in Czarist and Communist days, too.
But it’s fundamentally a flawed argument to say that the Maidan uprising caused war with Russia. Maybe Soros was involved and maybe not. But the Western Ukrainians who actually speak Ukrainian had legitimate grievances against Russia going back to 1654, and they finally got true independence. I’m happy for them. They’ve grown and changed for the better. I hope they win.
Did the Boston Tea Party cause the War of 1812? There were troublemakers then, too. The “Boston Massacre” was anything but. Some troublemakers were throwing trash and oyster shell fragments at British troops, and some hothead opened fire, and then the rest of them, killing several colonials. Soros was nowhere to be seen.
“But the Western Ukrainians who actually speak Ukrainian had legitimate grievances against Russia going back to 1654, and they finally got true independence. I’m happy for them. They’ve grown and changed for the better. I hope they win.”
Agree, and they should have respected their Russian-speaking counterparts in the East and the fact that Russia didn’t want a Cuba-like situation to have to deal with. Would have saved them the war, and they still could have had the independence from Russia that they longed for. Pretty dumb of them not to take that opportunity.