Three months after protests began, Ukraine's President has been forced out of power.
'By early afternoon, the presidential compound of brick paved pathways, beautifully landscaped in hedges, and all set in a birch forest on a bluff overlooking the Dnepr River, was filled with hundreds of people.' -February 22, 2014
A nation advocating a break from the past...
Ukraine today presents what many had hoped twenty years ago during communism’s fall in eastern Europe would have been a vanished notion of that forty year Cold War era which pitted the dictatorial socio-political structure against that of the western democratic institutions. During the existence of Stalinist governing regimes, the feared global hostility between the ideological, opposing mega powers was surely an immense, complicated and sensitive state of reality that breathed concern into many people around the world. But surely no-one was afflicted more by the atrocities that occurred than those of the Russian and Soviet bloc population who were forced to experience the suffering of an unviable and heartless regime.
Now in 2013 with time having greatly elapsed beyond the end of this failed communist experiment for those nations once subjugated to the egregious authoritarian state controls, an absence of free press, stifled personal liberties and labor induced mortality, the anguish still deeply resonates among the hearts and minds of many. For those of the younger generation, stories and early childhood recollections surely brings a resentment against those state powers once responsible for maintaining such a damaging governance and unjust rule over society.
Vividly apparent is that of the struggle that still strongly continues to plague areas that were among those closest related to the central state sponsored power in Moscow. Rebuilding an economic system into the modern high speed world of commerce, free trade, market efficiencies and business transparency has yet to find it’s potential in those countries caught in the wake that followed the communist collapse.
Initially in the mid 90’s, false illusions of capitalist promise for the former Soviet aligned nations quickly witnessed the transition of a state controlled business structure falling unscrupulously into the hands of a powerful elite class known as the oligarchs. Sadly, these financially fleeced, politically connected and unwavering self interested millionaires have largely continued reaping much of what’s to be gained financially in Russia as well as several of the western bordering states that make up the old aligned network often consisting of Bulgaria, Romania, the Ukraine among a few others. The more northern Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia have sought more cooperative inroads with EU affiliation despite lingering problems of it's Soviet past.
As protest over unsatisfactory social conditions and authoritarian political styles in Russia and it’s surrounding areas have arisen periodically for years including the scrutiny over Putin’s reelection last year, exemplifies some of the non-approving sentiment carried by many people in eastern Europe. This is an issue deeply felt by the non-supportive viewpoints of those people who oppose the post communist policy of state assigned bureaucracy which still remains prevalent in the governments of the once Soviet satellite nations.
Exemplifying a flagrant affront to the moral standards and international obligations held in common by the major democratic nations of the world has widened the riff of late by Putin’s policy in matters such as the non-cooperative stance taken by Russia against the UN cause in Syria, N Korea and granting of Eric Snowden’s asylum. At the crux of these ideological differences, a future cross roads for national identity seems to be fatefully confronting Ukraine at present. The nation has for nearly a thousand years been a part of major Russian importance which for centuries was under the rule of the tsarist government, then Bolshevik leadership before falling under the confines of the Stalinist regime during the Cold War. This is not to say however that Ukrainian sympathies lie warmly with it’s large eastern neighbor. As mentioned, the recollection of atrocities committed and unfulfilled efforts for the once envisioned supreme communist plan drastically repelled many Ukrainians from an allegiance to Russia.
Significantly, Ukraine rests on Russia’s border and is the continent’s second largest country, slightly bigger than France and possessing a population of forty five million people. The language officially is Ukrainian but many of it’s people speak the similarly Cyrillic derived Russian as the influence of it’s eastern neighbor has always held a prominent grip on parts of Ukraine. A rather sharp difference of attachment though lies largely on a geographical divide where the eastern half of Ukraine expresses a hereditary likeness or association with Russian ways. Western Ukraine on the other hand associates itself more as part of greater Europe with years of expectations for forming the country in a manner more akin to the opportune and prosperous likes of Germany, France, Scandinavia and other European countries.
The political support that the different sides of the Ukrainian divide have maintained over many years have been identified as pro-Western democracy and that of the east leaning towards a supportive Russian policy as it serves as the major partner along with other regional nations including China.
Ukraine is a highly educated nation boasting one of the highest number of universities per capita in the world and a fondness for it’s many iconic thinkers who have been born there over the years. Thus it is little surprise that the people aspire to an unobstructed system of political liberty that won’t be held hostage by an often times suspect and coercive Kremlin based bed fellow. Rather the more advantageous and ideologically sound decision to ally with the EU who’ve expressed sincerity in furthering the efforts to boast the stabilization of Ukrainian development is a view point held by many of the nation’s people.
Specifically, the hope that presented ample signs of progress over the past year was an involved economic agreement being orchestrated between the European Union and Ukraine. The major points of this plan include a free trade clause which is expected to save about $750 million in custom duties and additional aid packages worth hundreds of millions annually with incentives tied to domestic progress. Invitation into the Union itself hasn't been convincingly suggested but the pact would be a likely first step in the process should the acting government's in Kiev strive for such membership.
Advesaries of the agreement though conveyed some likely unadvantageous short term consequences including an influx of competing European goods that would stem demand for domestic manufacturing and hindered relations with Russia, it's current major trading partner. In recent years, approximately fifty percent of Ukrainian exports have gone to Russia and also a concern for many manufacturers in Ukraine, is the Kremlin’s ability to regulate it's own import business to prevent many of these goods from crossing over the border.
During the past several months of the approaching finalization for the Ukrainian EU trade cooperation, concerns expressed by owners of export businesses indicated grief that more than ten percent of their eastern trade had already been off. This figure was assumed only to rise once the EU deal was completed with speculations of slow down by as much as fifty percent in Russian bound purchases.
Still though many of the nation's businesses seem to feel convinced that the best direction for the Ukraine remains in opening itself more concertively to the west as a long term, economic and political partner. Russia’s tactics of punishing it's neighboor for not acting in accordance with the desired policies have been a constant misfortune effecting Ukraine. Most notably, the natural gas prices that Russian companies set for international export have often been higher for Ukraine than for other recipient nations during periods of government tension between the countries.
The EU trade alliance had been in final discussions between president Yanukovych and the representational EU heads of power in Belgium and was expected to be signed into action within several weeks. The agreement though abruptly appeared to have faltered due to an eleventh hour deal that Yanukovych made instead with Putin during early November at the Russian resort town of Yidris. The reversal of Yanukovych's allegiances to the west in favor of strengthening it's trade cooperation with Russia likely ensures continued close alliance between the two eastern nations. This move was the cause for eliciting tremendous outrage amongst much of the Ukrainian nation for whom many had hoped that their country was poised towards taking a constructive western approach in it's future policy of foreign affairs.
The announcement of the trade pact between the Russian and Ukraine presidents was suprising, that elicited the response of outrage by many of the citizens particularly in the Western half of the country. Demonstrations of protest broke out nearly immediately with large groups of people surrounding nearby government buildings at locations known as Euromaiden and Independence Square in the capital city of Kiev. Calls for the president to be removed from office had been strongly voiced for nearly a month.
Since the start of the movement, a consistent and growing front of activity has persisted with demands for a return to the economic alliance preemptively enacted with the EU and a rescission of the behind closed doors pact formed with Vladimir Putin.
Several days ago, a statue of the 1930's communist leader Vladimir Lenin that had stood as a visage of history for decades along a major street in Kiev was overturned and decimated to pieces by protestors.
Finding favor with many of the disgruntled, western seeking populace, the police have shown little intervention aside from orderly arrests and efforts to contain the scale of the demonstrations from reaching too threatening of a scale. Many of the western half of the nation’s television stations are controlled by those who envision a similar optimism for the future of a greater European cooperation for Ukraine. And announcements continue to be made across many media outlets for larger numbers of people to come out and participate in the call of opposition for the government to refrain from solidifying it‘s power with the east.
A Further Look into the Turbulent Power Struggles
Click to learn a bit more about the national history
My Anectdotal Story about Nearly Traveling to Ukraine