DU's New Cold Warriors

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. Hyperbole much?

Why are you shrieking about a return to the Cold War? Neither Putin nor the West would benefit from that. The Soviet bloc is no longer an entity. Russia remains a force in world politics but it isn't the behemoth it used to be.

As far as the West intervening directly in the Ukraine, that would be a mistake. The situation there is a complicated one. There are 3 main factions that make up the protesters.

The country has a 50/50 split between the Russian supporters and the European supporters. The industrial workers in the eastern half favour closer ties with Russia, they speak the language and have the same religion. In the western half, they have closer ties with Europe. Many are Roman Catholic and they speak Ukrainian.

These are the ones who want to leave Russia in the past and create stronger ties with their European friends, they are led by the three main opposition leaders - Klitschko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleg Tyagnybok.

http://www.news.com.au/world/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-protests-in-kiev-ukraine/story-fndir2ev-1226808390931

Tyagnybok is the far right neo-Nazi leader who has pushed for violence since day one. His faction has been responsible for a lot of the violence from protesters. He wants to create a far right country that is extremely regressive. I don't support him in the least.

However, the factions lead by Klitschko and Yatsenyuk are pushing for more European style reforms. (Yatsenyuk represents the party of jailed leader Tymoshenko.) These are the protesters I side with.

You stated

"And they especially don't get it that, if the Cold War bullshit does comeback, any and all possibility of progressive change anywhere will be gone."

Seriously? All possibility of progressive change anywhere will be gone? Anywhere? All possibility?

I am not a Cold Warrior as you put it. Your mischaracterization of those who support the protesters fails to take into account the complicated nature of Ukrainian politics and why some of us support the protests albeit with reservations about some of the protesters.

It is a volatile and dangerous situation. It is also a mixture of many with different views. It's not Cold Warriors vs Russia.