Pat is right once again.
With all due respect, no, he really isn't.
Second, high among the reasons Yanukovych chose Russia’s offer to join its custom union over the EU is that Putin put a better deal on the table.
Wrong. To quote Kostiantyn Yelisieiev: "Accession to the Customs Union may grant Ukraine only short-term dividends: a few billion dollars, about which Moscow says, are just a payment in exchange for the loss of sovereignty of Ukraine in the context of its own trade policy and rejection of integration into the EU.
However, the Association Agreement with the EU provides explicit legal and political guarantees of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state.
[...] The accession to the Customs Union will reduce the welfare of Ukraine by 0.5% in the medium term and by 3.7% in the long term, while the DCFTA with the EU will increase this indicator by 4.3% in the medium term and by 11.8% in the long term.
As for the “protesters” who came to Maidan Square in November, not all came simply to protest. Many set up tents and shacks, threw up barricades, seized government buildings, burned the headquarters of the ruling party, battled police and demanded the overthrow of the regime.
So that's why they protested peacefully for months?
How many Western countries would permit a planned putsch in their capital city?
How many western countries would permit their president selling them out into serfdom? Would the US accept if Obama behaved like Yanukovich?
Yanukovych then had parliament repeal the tough laws against protests he had had enacted... What kind of democracy is it where a democratically elected president can be forced out of office by mobs?
Hitler was democratically elected and then did away with democracy bit by bit. Yanukovych tried the same, but failed with his version of the
Reichstag Fire Decree. Repealing them was merely realizing that his attempt had failed, but not cause for applause.
But, to be candid, what happens in Ukraine has always been more critical to Moscow than it has ever been to us. Only if one doesn't care about western values like liberty.
In conclusion: Buchanan might be right that the US certainly shouldn't sent troops to Kiev. But standing for something instead of appeasing Putin isn't wrong.
Thanks for a good post.
The issue, despite news reports, really isn’t about a trade agreement with EU vs. Russia. That was just the final straw, so to speak.
The issue is about a rigged election and a corrupt leadership that has broken faith with a young nation that craves democracy and freedom.
An electoral process once rigged can be repeated, especially since Yanukovych and his cronies stay in power in the meantime. Yanukovych needs to go.