Riots in Ukraine - What is really going on?

[JVS]

45. +1

I think you're right on the money when you point out that it is a legitimate government and that the majority oppose the free trade agreement that these violent demonstrators support. I would also like to add another element that disturbs me. There is a tendency for the Western part of Ukraine to view themselves as the "real Ukraine" kind of how we have the red state "heartland" in the US. In contrast the Eastern areas of the country have long been an industrialized area that is multi-ethnic and not as nationalistic as the West. I cannot envision a way that the Western Ukrainians can maintain a democratic form of government against the wishes of the Eastern part without some kind of ethnic cleansing or altering the boundaries. So I really don't think that their movement can have a positive outcome.