What’s going on in Ukraine right now? Good question. The situation is probably best described as “fluid.”
A ceasefire has been reached. I don’t think this would happen unless President Viktor Yanukovych is worried he might lose the showdown.
Protesters stormed three governor’s offices, one of whom resigned.
A good summary of the situation, including the role of Yanukovych’s Berkut stormtroopers, the neutrality (so far) of the army, and the fractured nature of the opposition.
From that I’ve also stole this video of the Berkut in action:
More Berkut:
Ukraine police leaving the force?
Ukraine police torture naked protester in the cold?
Dramatic day for Ukraine in one infographic: red regions where local govts seized by #Euromaidan, pink – under siege pic.twitter.com/dUicLNT8pf
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) January 23, 2014
Heh:
There are some truly incredible pictures from the Ukraine protests. This is my favorite: pic.twitter.com/dwCAneoQxY
— John Pugh (@JohnPugh) January 23, 2014
Ted Cruz has condemned the crackdown and called on all branches of the United States government to support the opposition.
So what have Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry said about the latest crises in Ukraine? As far as I can tell: Nothing. Indeed, the Ukraine office of the State Department has issued only mild, per-forma tut-tutting.
This is the most important foreign policy question in the world right now, and they’re asleep at the switch.
Or maybe they just don’t care.
Finally, here’s a Euromaidan livestream:
And another:
Other livestreams can be found here.
Tags: EuroMaidan, Foreign Policy, Kiev, Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych
My grandparents are from Kiev, they migrated to the US, 100 years ago.
I feel bad for those people!