East Meets West In the Ukraine

Ukraine protests 2013-2014 (Photo credit: FotoBart)

The world news has been dominated for the past week and more by angry protests in Kiev, the capital city of the Ukraine. Snipers opened fire on Ukrainian citizens and police alike leaving dozens dead and countless injured.Yanukovich, the country's president fled the country headed for Russia, leaving parliament in disarray, the coffers empty and masses of frightened, bereft citizens dazed and confused over just what would come next.

What happened next was that thousands of troops moved into the Crimean peninsula. These troops wore uniforms but without insignias or any identifiable markings of any sort, drove about in military vehicles with no licence plates and while heavily armed, they appeared to enjoy a rather easygoing relationship with the local, largely Russian speaking population. Russian president Vladamir Putin claimed these troops were a local, peace-keeping militia while the EU and the US claimed the troops were Russian and that their presence indicated an "aggression on the sovereign country of the Ukraine and a violation of international law".

In the latest development, a referendum has been scheduled in ten days time on whether Crimea will remain part of the westward leaning Ukraine or become Russian.

CNN is covering the crisis in Ukraine with Wolfe Blitzer virtually pissing himself with glee, interviewing the same fat, old and singularly unattractive congressmen all bad-mouthing the president of the US stating that he is "weak, naive and feckless", day after weary day. Anderson Cooper, live from Kiev sniffles over the floral comemoratives in the middle of the night. Endless government functionaries babble on about sanctions without teeth and that the EU will not support lest the Russians turn off the spigots for the natural gas that fuel the largest business enterprises not only in the Ukraine, but Germany, Poland and the former satellites of the former USSR.