Ukraine's European Revolution?

[Solmyr]

Does not compute.

The statue had a naked woman sitting in Lenin's lap.

She'd have to be pretty hott to offset Lenin.

Teenage Lenin looks like Leo DiCaprio:

[Syt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25311018

Ukraine crisis: Western diplomats bid to end stand-off

Top Western diplomats are arriving in Kiev as police move to break the blockade of Ukrainian government buildings by pro-EU protesters.

US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met leading opposition politicians and was due to have talks with President Viktor Yanukovych.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is also due in the city.

Mr Yanukovych has reportedly indicated he may be willing to help free people arrested during the protests.

One of his predecessors as president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, made the remark after talks with Mr Yanukovych and two other former presidents, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko.

Scores of people were injured and at least 31 arrests were made in clashes between police and protesters at the end of last month..

Several people were also hurt overnight as riot police advanced, before a deadline for protesters to lift their blockade.

But no action was taken against the main opposition camp on Independence Square, where about 2,000 protesters remained on Tuesday morning, huddling around braziers to keep warm, Reuters news agency reports.

On Sunday, at least 100,000 protesters turned out, demanding the resignation of the government within 48 hours.

The political crisis began when Ukraine decided not to sign a landmark EU free-trade deal last month, while under pressure to strengthen economic ties with Russia.

The European Commission says the EU's offer of an association agreement with Ukraine remains on the table, provided Ukraine meets the conditions, which cannot be renegotiated.
'Serious risk'

A police raid on Monday on the headquarters of Ukraine's biggest opposition party, Fatherland, led Baroness Ashton to express concern and urge restraint on the eve of her visit.

Computer servers were removed during the raid on the party led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been in prison since 2011 over a controversial gas contract with Russia.

"I follow with concern the reports that police forces forcibly entered the office of the biggest opposition party," Baroness Ashton said in a statement.

She said the timing, just ahead of the talks proposed by Mr Yanukovych, "seriously risk to derail the process".

Photos were released on Tuesday of Ms Nuland meeting Vitaly Klitschko, the heavyweight boxing champion who leads the Udar (Punch) party, as well as Arseniy Yatsenyuk, of Tymoshenko's Fatherland party, and Oleh Tyahnybok, of the far-right Svoboda party.

In Moscow earlier, the US diplomat expressed "deep concern" about events in Ukraine, stressing Washington's support for Ukrainians' "European choice".

She "urged Russia to use its influence to press for peace, human dignity and a political solution", the US embassy in Moscow said in a statement.
Scuffles

After talks with Mr Yanukovych, Mr Kravchuk said the current president would decide whether arrested demonstrators should be freed "while not intervening in the work of the courts".

The street protests, the biggest since 2004, have invited parallels with that time. On each of the last three Sundays, crowds estimated at 100,000 or more have flooded central Kiev.

On Monday, phalanxes of riot police, their helmets caked in snow, moved to clear Kiev's government district of protesters, tearing down barricades leading to the presidency, cabinet offices and parliament.

Scuffles broke out and, while there were no immediate official reports of injuries, members of Svoboda said several people had been hurt. Two police officers were also reportedly injured.

The unrest in Kiev and other parts of Ukraine escalated after police used violence against protesters on 30 November.

The crisis has highlighted divisions in Ukraine, with many in the east of the country more sympathetic to Russia, and opposing both closer links with the EU and the anti-government protests.

[crazy canuck]

Don't the Russians ever get tired of Putin?  I mean after three or so years I find it difficult to tolerate the President anymore.

In Putin's Russia the government finds it difficult to tolerate you.

[DGuller]

Police is moving in on the protesters right now. 

[Ed Anger]

DG is getting all tingly now.

[DGuller]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaQLlo0pXdI :popcorn:

[Syt]

http://www.dw.de/berkut-ukraines-protest-suppression-unit/a-17284637

Berkut: Ukraine's protest-suppression unit

The interior ministry's special "Berkut" unit was originally created to fight organized crime, but now is mostly being used to oppress social and political protests. It's especially known for its brutality.



Opponents of the Ukrainian government were repeatedly injured in clashes that have taken place between demonstrators and security forces in recent weeks. The special unit "Berkut," which means golden eagle in Ukrainian, has often been involved in such missions. Ukrainian opposition parties are demanding dissolution of the unit.

Vitali Klitschko of the opposition party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms is convinced that the unit has discredited itself. Its excessive use of force to disperse street protests has been causing an outrage in the Ukrainian society for some time now.

One of many special units

Berkut, Alpha, Omega, Falcon, Titan - these are all names for the different special units of the Ukrainian security service and the militia. Border patrol and customs agencies, as well as the military, have their own special units. But over past years Berkut has most shocked the public with its unnecessary brutality and aggression against demonstrators.

This applies in particular to the bloody suppression of the peaceful student protests at Maidan Square in Kyiv, on November 30. The students protested against the government's decision to shelve the negotiated agreement with the European Union due to pressure from Russia. It was also Berkut police who beat up demonstrators and journalists during riots in front of the president's office.

Demanding regulation

Experts point out that special units partially operate in a legal vacuum. Although states may need special units like Berkut, their strength, tasks and the enforcement strategies need to be regulated by law, said Mykola Chavronyuk from the Center for Political and Legal Reforms in Ukraine. Many think this Berkut needs more oversight. "The legislator has to clearly define its competence and duties, and especially what the unit is not allowed to do," he said.

Berkut was created in 1992 as a rapid response force to more effectively fight organized crime. To this day, only interior ministry decrees regulate the operations of the special unit. Therefore, only the government - which controls the interior ministry - ultimately decides when to deploy the unit. The parliament is left out of the loop.

Wealth of applicants

At its start, the unit was staffed by former special military personnel and experienced militiamen. Today, the requirement for members of the 4,000-strong unit is still to be physically fit. According to the interior ministry, there are four applicants for each vacancy. Not only hardened fighters are chosen, but also climbers, divers and snipers.

The average monthly salary is up to 500 euros ($688), depending on length of service and rank. An ordinary Ukrainian militiaman earns around 300 euros a month.

Demonstrators targeted

In contrast to militiamen, members of Berkut should be able to carry out arrests against armed criminals and members of the organized crime, and also free hostages. Berkut members are also trained for these tasks.

The fight against organized crime has become a mere secondary task of Berkut. According to the interior ministry, the special unit's main task of is "to secure the public order during state but also social, political and religious mass events, as well as during sports and cultural happenings."

In this context, Chavronyuk points out that interior ministry rules are not responding to important questions, such as: "What is a disturbance of the public order? What is the difference between ending a demonstration and the dissolution of mass unrest? At what number of participants it is a mass event?," he asks.

Suppression of political and social protests



Ukrainian human rights activist Oleg Martynenko is alarmed that even during peaceful protests, there as many Berkut members as there are demonstrators. "The government is the one deciding which meeting will be dissolved. Then the commander of the special units sends his troops to the place of action," he said.

Additionally, psychological training to target criminals reflects in the unit's approach. Berkut members see demonstrators as a threat, which they could be willing to eliminate by any means. The men are allowed not to carry out illegal commands, yet it's likely that most of their commanders' orders seem to be suitable.

"They simply just can't judge which orders are lawful," Martynenko explained. They also don't know enough about citizens' and demonstrators' rights - which human rights advocates fear has allowed the special units to increasingly became tools for the oppression of political and social protests.

Amusing sidenote: a few hours after they used special units to move against pro-EU protestors the Ukrainian government asked the EU for several billion Euros in loans ... apparently the Ukrainian price to reconsider the association treaty with the EU would be €20 billion from Brussels.

[Ed Anger]

I bet they use metric.

[CountDeMoney]

And only work in fast food for the extra money after school.

[Ed Anger]

And went to a Division I school.

[Capetan Mihali]

 

[derspiess]

And type with their riot batons.

[derspiess]

Question about the Russian-speaking Ukrainians:  do they consider themselves real, patriotic Ukrainians, or would they sell out Ukraine the first chance they get in order to live under the Russian flag?

[DGuller]

Question about the Russian-speaking Ukrainians:  do they consider themselves real, patriotic Ukrainians, or would they sell out Ukraine the first chance they get in order to live under the Russian flag?

I don't know myself.  I lived about as West as you can in Ukraine, so I don't know what people all the way in the east think, and that was such a long time ago anyway.  My gut feeling is that Russian-speaking Ukrainians despise the Ukrainian nationalists, who do have a bit of a fascist streak, but they don't necessarily want to become a part of what now everyone knows is an increasingly autocratic mafia state.

[Solmyr]

How do Crimean Tatars figure into all this?