As Russia closes in, Ukrainians fearful, defiant

[levp]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by azurnoir (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Ukrainian museum caretaker Valentin knows what it's like when Moscow sends in troops to occupy a reluctant ally - he was there, in Red Army uniform, when Soviet tanks rolled in to crush the Prague Spring in 1968.

"We were the occupiers then. Now we are the ones who are being occupied by the Russians," he said, shaking his head at the irony of history which sees Ukraine, long Moscow's closest partner, losing Crimea after Sunday's Kremlin-backed referendum there and fearing further invasion from the east.
(...)
"There is now real hope that, if not for us, at least for our children, life will be better," she said, scoffing at Moscow for suggesting native Russian-speakers like herself faced danger and discrimination from "Banderites" - far-right admirers of 1940s anti-Soviet partisan Stepan Bandera.

"I'm not a radical like those men on the Maidan," she said, sitting coiffed and businesslike at her desk. "But if wanting a better life makes you a Banderite, then I'm a Banderite."

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/17/uk-ukraine-crisis-war-idUKBREA2G03420140317

[MADem]

1. To read some posts here, you'd think Putin's marauders would be greeted as liberators...

"Us fascists?" asked Valentin. "They're the fascists," he said, likening the "referendum at gunpoint" he expects to annex Crimea to the invasion he was part of as a young conscript, when Soviet leaders claimed to have been invited by Czechoslovakia to lend "fraternal help" against a purported right-wing plot.

Everything old is new again.

[Berlin Expat]

3. Yep; the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia - at the "request" of Prague - is a fair analogy.

The thing now is to make sure that Putin stays confined in Crimea, and not try any other shenanigans with the rest of Ukraine.

[swilton]

2. One fine piece of propaganda

First piece of falsehood - that Ukrainians are united in their 'fear' and who are they defying? - who are these Ukrainians and what are they afraid of....there are many who would argue that Ukrainians are also united in fear of the new Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and governance of Ukraine from extreme right-wing political factions. There are many divisions in Ukraine based upon language, religion and historical experiences -to imply that one museum caretaker represents the fears, hopes/aspirations of the country in its entirety is childish and feeds ignorance and hysteria.

The second falsehood is to compare the current crisis - a catalyst of which was a West supported right-wing coup against a legitimately elected East supported government with potential for escalation into a second Cold War - to the 1968 Prague Spring which was an ideological battle driven by interpretations of Czech vs. Soviet Marxism and uneven liberalization in different parts of the Warsaw Pact....

[dipsydoodle]

5. What they have yet to fear they may no concept at present

or have simply forgotten , assuming they were aware at the time, why IMF funding ceased 2008 and 2010.

IMF loans will be subject to reduced government expenditure including lowering of state pensions, devaluation of their currency and loss of the subsidised consumer gas supplies they currently enjoy. EU will loans will exactly carry the same conditions and be covered by English, not Ukraine , law and also secured against state assets. They also be required to privatise state assets of their own volition to demonstrate being of help to themselves.

In other words - Greece revisited.

It is also likely they will told how much the EU is prepared to pay for the products and produce. Those who export elsewhere at present using their own price structure are in for a very nasty shock.

Of the first $15 billion now promised that they receive $3 billion will immediately become payable to Russia in repayment of the $3 billion loaned by Russia to Ukraine in December.

[snappyturtle]

4. This report reads like fodder for Faux News: Fair and balanced.

Just in case:

[azurnoir]

6. sorry locking

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