Why would they threaten Eastern Europe when US alone has a military 5 times bigger?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

31. Oh, yes. Victoria Nuland and her coup cookies. How could we ever forget that?

Viktor Yanukovych, who just like Donald Trump was both a client of Paul Manafort and very much a favorite of Vladimir Putin, ran into trouble in the fact he was a hideously corrupt president who was stealing literally billions from the Ukrainian treasury, imprisoned his political opponents on bogus charges and persecuted his media critics. When he turned his back on the planned EU deal and towards Russia, Ukrainians had enough of it and started to protest. Yanukovych in turn sicced his secret police force on protesters, dozens were injured and later killed, and it only intensified public opposition to him even further. Eventually he didn't see the value of sticking around, Putin offered him safe harbor in Russia, and he took three days to pack up his luxury belongings in his mansion (all while people were literally dying in the streets) and flew off. Several days later, Putin moves into Crimea and claims it for his own, all in violation of previously acknowledged treaties.

But please, tell me more about how Victoria Nuland once handed out cookies to protesters and was caught saying "Fuck the EU" on the phone.

Also, not sure what Petro Poroshenko has to do with it in the end. Yes, like Yanukovych he's an oligarch and not being a Ukrainian citizen I can't speak either positively or negatively as to his effectiveness as President, but it's not like he forced Yanukovych to pack up his stuff and fly away, so I have no idea where you're going with that.

And just another FYI, if you're attempting to sound informed on the situation, you should note that "the Ukraine" is a non-standard reference to the country. It's actually just "Ukraine".