IO agree about the stupidity of the language law cancellation. I
thought it wasn't an issue. Boy was I wrong!! Not because that was the
motivation to "rise". For instance in Donetsk it was the lies about
the intention of Kyiv to cancel their social benefits. And the Crimea
was being occupied quietly long before Yanuk fell. But the
cancellation of the KK law gave them an "excuse". And what they've
done in the Crimea since has not really helped them.
As for Donetsk: things were clear before and are becoming more so. The
leading elements in the protests are Russians from Russia, especially
neo-nazis (like the arested "people's governor".) They've just
occupied the business building of Governor Taruta and hung both the
Russian and neo-Nazi rags. I hope people get videos of this.
Quoting Francine Ponomarenko <[email protected]>:
> Earlier this morning I watched Anastasia Stanko of Hromadske in Krym.
> She interviewed some stay in Ukraine folks, then went to the Russians,
> Cossacks they were it seems.
> She went to their outdoor eatery.
>
> When she tried to ask them questions, one large healthy fellow said she was
> not speaking literary Russian and began to correct her.
>
> Then a small crowd, a handful, of regular citizens were ready for her
> questions.
>
> One fellow, recalling the good old soviet days hauled out some picture of
> krym as part of the ussr, and not part of Ukraine. Then he said krym has
> been under occupation for the 23 years of Ukraine, occupation by Ukrainians.
>
> But then came the real sore spot. Language.
>
> He said once the new govt in kyiv raised the language issue, krym rose up.
>
> Stanko said the thing was vetoed, and he said, too late, krym rose up.
>
> I have to say, the minute the new govt came into office and the first I
> heard mention of language, I got scared. It was really stupid to even
> mention it until things were properly consolidated.
>
> Having lived in Quebec, I know the very mention of anything to do with
> language gets folks really going, on one side or the other, and people get
> really worked up. They often don't know the details of proposed changes but
> the discussions and umbrage really gets magnified.
>
> God help us from federalization.
>
> And who are these people in Donetsk. Are they ethnic Russians. They can't
> be ethnic Ukrainians.
>
>
>
> On Sunday, 16 March 2014, <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> There've been a few. Perhaps at this point the idea would be to
>> "federalize" Ukraine, that is areas of the southeast excluding the Crimea.
>> "popular viches" are being held in Kharkiv and Luhansk today, and Donetsk
>> also with more violence there.
>> In a conversation with Merkel Putin has expressed "worries" about the
>> situation in these regions and also in the areas between Odesa and the
>> Crimea.
>>
>> What is interesting is the silly "federalizing referendum" being held
>> today in Mykolaiv. Odesa and Kherson are totally out of bounds for the
>> Putinists, so Mykolaiv has becomme a stand-in for the three regions, and
>> this is indicated in the "bulletin" see here:
>> http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/16/7019072/
>>
>> About 600 prople in Mykolaiv are "voting". They presumably speak for all
>> three regions (:=)). Dnipropetrosk is also out of bounds for the Putinists,
>> but there was a brief pro-Russian "automaidan" in Zaporizhja lasting a few
>> minutes.
>>
>> It's beginning to look that as of today Putin might push "Federalization"
>> instead of "annexation" in all of the southeast. Perhaps even adding the
>> Crimea if need be (??) Let's hope this does not become the "compromise"
>> Ukraine will be offered...
>>
>> For this is totally unacceptable. We keep watching...
>>
>>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Apr 01 2014 - 00:58:20 EST