The awful beauty of the riots in Kiev, Ukraine

[knapplc]

It's pretty tragic, what's going on in Kiev. I had some Ukrainian coworkers a few years back. Really nice people. Good family people. It's sad to think their families back home, and perhaps them if they've gone back, are tied up in this.

The riots are a pretty grim reminder that there are people still willing to fight for their freedoms, and that there are governments out there willing to use force, brutal force, to stay in power.

One wonders how it would be different in America. I'm thinking not much different. I'm thinking that if our government continues down this path, this is where we're heading. People will resist this stuff at some point, and our government will respond. Perhaps with force.

Anyway, there have been some wonderful, terrible pictures online about the riots. It's amazing that such strife can be at once so awful and so beautiful.

The riots when they're somewhat peaceful:

When it gets not so peaceful:

I believe this is the other side of that fire, with the building in the left background of the two previous pics to the right in this pic. This picture looks like something out of a video game:

Two pictures merged of Kiev's Independence Square from a peaceful time, and now.

Some more pictures and the story on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26257542

 

[Creighton Duke]

Hopefully this nonsense gets taken care of in a timely manner. Wouldn't want the Putin, oligarch-sponsored government to get superseded (no, I won't add the "insert sarcasm here" tag).

 

[Foppa]

Such an awful situation. The Ukraine and Belarus are in really bad positions with the influence from the east hovering over them (although Lukashenko is little more than a Russian puppet anyway). I don't know if I see this ending well.

Edit: I wonder if Russia is just biding their time on this until the Olympics is over, and then the stuff really hits the fan.

 

[Creighton Duke]

Such an awful situation. The Ukraine and Belarus are in really bad positions with the influence from the east hovering over them (although Lukashenko is little more than a Russian puppet anyway). I don't know if I see this ending well.

Edit: I wonder if Russia is just biding their time on this until the Olympics is over, and then the stuff really hits the fan.

Give me a break. Why is it "awful"?

 

[Landlord]

Such an awful situation. The Ukraine and Belarus are in really bad positions with the influence from the east hovering over them (although Lukashenko is little more than a Russian puppet anyway). I don't know if I see this ending well.

Edit: I wonder if Russia is just biding their time on this until the Olympics is over, and then the stuff really hits the fan.

Give me a break. Why is it "awful"?

Maybe because people are dying?

 

[BigRedBuster]

OK.....can someone give me a short version of exactly what the riots are all about and what each side is fighting for? I honestly am lost on this conflict.

 

[Landlord]

OK.....can someone give me a short version of exactly what the riots are all about and what each side is fighting for? I honestly am lost on this conflict.

"Everything you need to know"

http://www.dailydot.com/news/kiev-ukraine-protest-primer/

Why is this happening?
Throughout the week, many western media outlets have reported that the riots, in which hundreds of protesters and police have been injured, were sparked by President Viktor Yanukovich's refusal to accept an economic pact with the European Union in favor of closer ties to Russia. This has led some to label the protest as pro-EU.

But Taras Ilkiv, a local Ukrainian journalist writing for Business Insider, this week, said the protests are in opposition to Yanukovich's entire tenure in office, not just this one policy decision.

Yanukovich was, by all accounts, Democratically elected in 2010, but Ilkiv said that since taking power, his administration has amassed a long record of corruption. Yanukovich's administration is accused of censoring mainstream media outlets and using government tax agencies to harass the middle class. He's also worked to consolidate government power structures under his command.

 

[BigRedBuster]

So, you have a President who (after being democratically elected) has worked to centralize power under him and the national government. The public wants to be a part of the EU which is more capitalistic but the President wants to hitch his wagon to Russia that keeps going more and more back to its communistic roots. When protests broke out, the President didn't like it and he put laws in place and sent troops in to break them up.

Is that basically it?

With its soviet history, I can understand the people rioting if that's what the President wants to move back towards.

So....I read a comment somewhere about "Eastern influence"...what's that all about?

 

[Creighton Duke]

Such an awful situation. The Ukraine and Belarus are in really bad positions with the influence from the east hovering over them (although Lukashenko is little more than a Russian puppet anyway). I don't know if I see this ending well.

Edit: I wonder if Russia is just biding their time on this until the Olympics is over, and then the stuff really hits the fan.

Give me a break. Why is it "awful"?

Maybe because people are dying?

As per usual, the reading comprehension is not quite up to task. Explain the bolded part to me.

 

[Landlord]

Such an awful situation. The Ukraine and Belarus are in really bad positions with the influence from the east hovering over them (although Lukashenko is little more than a Russian puppet anyway). I don't know if I see this ending well.

Edit: I wonder if Russia is just biding their time on this until the Olympics is over, and then the stuff really hits the fan.

Give me a break. Why is it "awful"?

Maybe because people are dying?

As per usual, the reading comprehension is not quite up to task. Explain the bolded part to me.

I can't explain it because I am not well-informed on the matter.

Explain bolding one sentence yet asking him to explain a different one?

 

[walksalone]

So, when the Ukrainian pres said they're just going to start shooting people, the rioters said, "ok you win"...

 

[Creighton Duke]

Such an awful situation. The Ukraine and Belarus are in really bad positions with the influence from the east hovering over them (although Lukashenko is little more than a Russian puppet anyway). I don't know if I see this ending well.

Edit: I wonder if Russia is just biding their time on this until the Olympics is over, and then the stuff really hits the fan.

Give me a break. Why is it "awful"?

Maybe because people are dying?

As per usual, the reading comprehension is not quite up to task. Explain the bolded part to me.

I can't explain it because I am not well-informed on the matter.

Explain bolding one sentence yet asking him to explain a different one?

Ok, thanks. Inform yourself a little before commenting and go take a lap.

A. The message was essentially the same (really bad vs. awful) B. I was a little drunk before heading out...oops

 

[knapplc]

If you were drunk, and you referenced the wrong sentence, why does LoMS have to inform himself?

 

[Creighton Duke]

If you were drunk, and you referenced the wrong sentence, why does LoMS have to inform himself?

Inform himself of what is going on with the situation. The response that "people are dying" to my question of what the "really bad influences from the east (sic)" are isn't really explaining anything.

...but I see your point.