Kiev Clashes

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Anton Chontorog, 23, a computer programmer, joined a small crowd of young men who lined up to enroll in the hundred, the basic organizing unit of a strikingly resilient force that is providing the tip of the spear in the violent showdown with government security forces. The sotni, as the units are called, take their name from a traditional form of Cossack cavalry division. Activists estimate at least 32 such groups are in Kiev now, with more forming all the time . . .

I'm wondering if this unrest will domino into a world effecting event.

Won't turn into a world event but could pull in 1 or 2 of the surrounding European nations if it does evolve into a civil war.

Ukraine is a large country and Kiev is a long way from a border so it would take something extreme to happen but if it expanded out and involved a city like Lviv then that would be difficult.

I think if I lived in Belarus right now I would be worried. Russia still have a strong hold over the country and it is the closest other country to Kiev. Would be prime land to use if things went military between Ukraine and Russia.


[img][800:768]http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9141558.ece/ALTERNATES/w1024/kiev-15.jpg[/img]

Yanukovych announces that a peace deal has been reached with the opposition. Says he will confirm details in 2 hours time

The opposition are not confirming anything right now

looks like its time for joan baez to come to kiev and sing "where have all the flowers gone".which by the was a ancient unkrainian folk called "tov chu tov chu mak". meaning: the grinding of the popies

My contact in Kiev (yes, due to the vagaries of the Internet, I have a contact in Kiev) tells me that the situation is complicated by the fact that both sides are willing to hire "protesters" to fill the ranks on their side for cash. And given the economic situation in Ukraine, they apparently aren't really having any difficulty in finding mobs-for-hire...

And when you thought that the brutality of the Cossacks was just a myth! Not only are the Ukrainian police hired from the ranks of the Cossacks, but it ought to be remembered, they are the same bastards who are policing Sochi, and who assaulted p**** Riot the other day.

For some time there has been an uneasy truce between the Kremlin and Western powers. On questions like Ukraine they have accused each other of meddling, but have agreed to disagree. On other questions, like diplomacy over Syria or Iran, they have tried to collaborate.

But there seems to be little trust between the two sides, and efforts at diplomacy are fragile, as the recent collapse of Syrian talks in Geneva has shown. There is always a danger that the rickety bridge between East and West will further weaken.

Ukraine lies geographically between the two sides. Until now, the shadow of old Cold War rivalries over the territory has largely been kept at bay. Diplomats have argued it ought to be possible for Russia and the West to collaborate over Ukraine's future to the benefit of all sides. But as the crisis worsens, that prospect may be swept away.

The protesters are being paid? I wonder who?

This is not nearly over. Ukraine President Leaves Kiev

I wish we had better news coverage on this. No one seems to know what is exactly going on here. Compared to what we knew in Syria, Libya and, Egypt.

The situation in Ukraine is like 1980s China.

President Yanukovich is in Kharkov, the former capital, and there regional leaders of the east and south have assembled and resolved to back the constitutional government. Meanwhile, in Kiev, neo-Nazi militias roam about and parliament, minus the Party of Regions people, have voted to remove Yanukovich from office and have carried out similar coup-like activities.

Though this situation is worrying, it may get close but it won't turn into a civil war, thankfully, a Coup is also much more unlikely, the president has buggered off in his private jet to some god forsaken land, the government has a new non-permanent leader for the meanwhile and another truce has happened again, this time it looks like its for good

I think to a large degree this whole mess was caused by Putin turning back the clock in Russia to a more totalitarian form of government and now trying to do so in certain surrounding states he wishes to regain some measure of control over.

Rinat Akhmetov, the oligarch behind Yanukovich who is based on Donetsk, was threatened by the EU with loss of his property and status amongst the glitterati of Western Europe, and that is what caused the coup to succeed in Kiev.