Stupid question, I know: Why shouldn't Ukraine split in two?

[DFW]

113. There is a difference between being proud of your ethnicity and changing your nationality

Slovakia, proud as it may be of its independence, got a raw deal economically by separating. It was decided ofr anything but pragmatic reasons.

Case in point--some 15 years ago I was with my wife in Canada where a bunch of people speaking Italian arrived at the same spot we were. I noted, in Italian, "the Italians have arrived." One of them, good-naturedly, but firmly, immediately said "we are not Italians!" I immediately corrected myself: "the Ticinesi have arrived." This brought immediate smiles and "eh, bravo!" all around, probably because they thought no American or Canadian would know where (or what) Ticino is. They were very proud of their identity as Ticinesi, but if you ever suggested their breaking away from Switzerland, were they are a small minority, to join Italy, they'd think you had a screw loose.

As for elections, they were never the forte of Yanukovich, and I doubt any referendums would have been seen as binding if they didn't come out the way the ones counting the votes wanted them to. Stalin looms large still in those parts, and his mantra is as strong there as it is with our Republicans: "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."

Republicans hate it when I call them Stalinists, by the way. Cryin' shame, ain't it?