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Comment by sillysaurus2 | Hacker News Reader

A protester in Kiev did an IAmA on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1w17qn/iama_protestor_...

According to him, "Russia is trying to keep all the former Soviet Union satellite countries under control, and that is the root cause of the rioting."

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From what I heard from Ukrainian friends, the primary matter here is the corruption. President has criminal past, he did time for rape (!) and some petty theft, when he was younger. He was retroactively cleared of charges. Also, strangely enough, all people involved in those cases can longer be found. However he still has strong ties with the criminal world and under his rule and with his assistance existing businesses were routinely and forcibly taken over by an equivalent of mafia. All latest developments with criminalization of government critique, suppressing the right to protest, etc aren't really surprising to anyone there - it's a logical development of things going downhill in past few years.

Sure there's Russia' involvement and geopolitics, but it does appear to be a secondary matter.

A book that some believe influences Russia's strategy is "Osnovy geopolitiki: Geopoliticheskoe budushchee Rossii" (Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geo-political Future of Russia) by Alexander Dugin. It describes the path to an Eurasian Empire that says about Ukraine "with the exception of its three westernmost regions—Volhynia, Galicia, and Transcarpathia—Ukraine, like Belarus, constitutes an integral part of Russia-Eurasia". [1]

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics [1] http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/807...

back in 2006 i started a bet with a friend, i wagered that within 10 years the russian army would enter ukrainian soil. the excuse being restoring order/peace.

it's a 100 eur bet.

i'd hate to win actually, but fuck, it's getting closer and closer. the eastern provinces are russian vs. the west, which is sort of european/polish. civil war is close.

Well, it's very popular in Ukraine and kinda nazist point of view, considering Russia as root of all problems. That's why so many nazists amongst "protestors" and why we can have nazi state in Europe if they will take power.

Well, we already have fascists in Hungary.

"The root of _all_ problems" is an emotional exaggeration (often used by Russians themselves to assess other peoples' opinion). But when you try to fought this bias, it is still amusing _how many_ problems are caused by this so-close, restless, authoritarian and violent neighbor with ambitions of creating the Russian Civilization.

So, I disapprove that point of view, but I have to admit that such neighborhood is a burden for anyone and a source of permanent headache (Pridnestrovye cut off from Moldova, Southern Abhazia separated from Georgia with Russian help, escalation of Armenian-Azerbaijan conflicts, etc). Moreover, Russia in its current Putinist form is a burden for its own people.

They've already lost Moldavia recently, and didn't they lose Georgia, too? I don't think they can keep them under control much longer.

They're losing a lot of the political clout they held over their former puppets. The Baltic states have been making closer and closer ties to the eurozone as well, along with Romania, etc. The Ukraine feels very much like a last stand of Russia, which may explain why they're placing so much pressure on the heads of government there.

> They've already lost Moldavia recently, and didn't they lose Georgia, too?

The Rose Revolution gang were ousted in the most recent elections in Georgia...

And former Georgian President Saakashvili is coming to the USA to teach, as a Senior Statesman: http://fletcher.tufts.edu/News-and-Media/2013/12/20/Presiden...

Of course he is. It was always known that he was just a US stooge, and didn't look out for his people's interests.

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." ―Princess Leia

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