Ukraine more polarized than ever after two months of protests

[dipsydoodle]

KYIV, UKRAINE—The mayor of a western city warned that his police would fight any troops sent in by the president. The governor of an eastern region posted an image of an opposition lawmaker beaten bloody, saying he couldn’t contain his laughter.

Two months into Ukraine’s anti-government protests, the two sides are only moving further apart.

To be sure, Ukraine has never been monolithic. Russia and Europe have vied for dominance for centuries, fostering deep cultural differences between the mostly Ukrainian-speaking western and central regions that yearn for ties with the West, and the Russian-speaking east and south that looks to Russia for support.

As the crisis has deepened, each side has grown stronger in its convictions — and those who stood in the middle have been forced to choose sides.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/02/04/ukraine_more_polarized_than_ever_after_two_months_of_protests.html

[pampango]

1. "The demonstrations began with an old question: Should Ukraine follow a European path or move closer

into Russia’s sphere? In November, President Viktor Yanukovych — after years of touting a political and economic treaty with the European Union — had abruptly walked out on it in favour of a bailout loan from Russia. But the crisis changed significantly a week later when riot police violently broke up a small, peaceful rally in the middle of the night on Kyiv’s central square.

The differing visions are rooted in cultural realities. To the west, protest-friendly Lviv feels like a typical European city, with cobblestone streets, Catholic churches and outdoor cafes. To the east, the Yanukovych stronghold of Kharkiv is an industrial city with massive Soviet architecture and a giant Lenin statue.

Linguistics also come into play in a country where roughly 40 per cent of people speak Ukrainian at home, a third speak Russian and a quarter speak both. The two languages are closely related and it is not uncommon for one Ukrainian to address another in one language and hear a response in another. Most speakers on Kyiv’s Independent Square address the crowds in Ukrainian, but both languages are heard at the barricades.

The country now stands split nearly down the middle. According to a December poll by the Razumkov Center think-tank , 50 per cent of Ukrainians supported the protests while 43 per cent opposed them. The poll, which interviewed 2,010 people across Ukraine in person, had a margin of error of 2.3 percentage points.

Very informative article. Thanks for posting it, dipsydoodle.

[dipsydoodle]

2. More on the division here from last November.

East or West? Contrasting faces of Ukraine http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25113986