The reason the protests occurred in the first place was due to economics. The Ukrainians wanted trade relations with Europe. That is all this was. Yanukovich refused to carry through with the European trade agreement. The Ukrainians were tired of an oppressive economy and began protests.
I have been attending protests since day one: (click here) 21 November 2012. It started with a peaceful protest of a couple hundred people. I painted a poster - “Europe Starts With You” - and stood alone near the independence monument. Then young people started to come up and talk, and, with many of those I met on those November days, we are still meeting regularly at the protests.
The day the Ukrainian government decided to stop the agreement with the EU, I almost cried in disbelief. The government had finally shown its true face. We were so naive and optimistic that we actually believed they wouldn’t. Then the situation suddenly changed. It was not about Europe anymore, but about stopping the violence against peaceful protesters, ensuring justice and demanding the resignation of the criminal government and its president.
Yesterday I took part in a mass demonstration in Kiev to support the unity of Ukraine, the people in Crimea, and to protest against Russian military intervention on the territory of sovereign Ukraine....
The European Agreement has been passed by the Ukraine. I don't see the escalation is at all appropriate. Russia's indulgence of the politics of Yanukovich has turned an economic protest into inappropriate tensions over sovereign borders.
I remind, Russia broke a treaty that was suppose to maintain peace within Ukraine. It broke a treaty to impose the politics of a Ukraine president that fled the country. No one exiled Yanukovich. He left of his own accord because he knows what he did as a power broker in that country.
What the world is witnessing in the Ukraine is Yanukovich's STRATEGY against the people of the Ukraine to maintain power and his plush lifestyle. Enough.
I do believe Ukrainian leadership has come forward to engage talks to return peace to the people. What else is there to understand other than divisive intentions to grow hatred and violence? The people don't want hatred and violence. The people understand that much about themselves. No one should be attempting to poison the well.
By Adrian Croft
I have been attending protests since day one: (click here) 21 November 2012. It started with a peaceful protest of a couple hundred people. I painted a poster - “Europe Starts With You” - and stood alone near the independence monument. Then young people started to come up and talk, and, with many of those I met on those November days, we are still meeting regularly at the protests.
The day the Ukrainian government decided to stop the agreement with the EU, I almost cried in disbelief. The government had finally shown its true face. We were so naive and optimistic that we actually believed they wouldn’t. Then the situation suddenly changed. It was not about Europe anymore, but about stopping the violence against peaceful protesters, ensuring justice and demanding the resignation of the criminal government and its president.
Yesterday I took part in a mass demonstration in Kiev to support the unity of Ukraine, the people in Crimea, and to protest against Russian military intervention on the territory of sovereign Ukraine....
The European Agreement has been passed by the Ukraine. I don't see the escalation is at all appropriate. Russia's indulgence of the politics of Yanukovich has turned an economic protest into inappropriate tensions over sovereign borders.
I remind, Russia broke a treaty that was suppose to maintain peace within Ukraine. It broke a treaty to impose the politics of a Ukraine president that fled the country. No one exiled Yanukovich. He left of his own accord because he knows what he did as a power broker in that country.
What the world is witnessing in the Ukraine is Yanukovich's STRATEGY against the people of the Ukraine to maintain power and his plush lifestyle. Enough.
I do believe Ukrainian leadership has come forward to engage talks to return peace to the people. What else is there to understand other than divisive intentions to grow hatred and violence? The people don't want hatred and violence. The people understand that much about themselves. No one should be attempting to poison the well.
By Adrian Croft
BRUSSELS
(Reuters) - The European Union and Ukraine(click here) signed the core elements of a political association agreement on Friday, committing to the same deal former president Viktor Yanukovich rejected last November, a move which led to his overthrow.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso, and the leaders of the bloc's 28 nations signed the core chapters of the Association Agreement on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.
The deal commits Ukraine and the EU to closer political and economic cooperation, although more substantial parts of the agreement concerning free trade will only be signed after Ukraine has held new presidential elections in May.
Van Rompuy, the European Council president, said the agreement would bring Ukraine and its 46 million people closer to the heart of Europe and a "European way of life".
"(This) recognizes the aspirations of the people of Ukraine to live in a country governed by values, by democracy and the rule of law, where all citizens have a stake in national prosperity," he said....
(Reuters) - The European Union and Ukraine(click here) signed the core elements of a political association agreement on Friday, committing to the same deal former president Viktor Yanukovich rejected last November, a move which led to his overthrow.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso, and the leaders of the bloc's 28 nations signed the core chapters of the Association Agreement on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.
The deal commits Ukraine and the EU to closer political and economic cooperation, although more substantial parts of the agreement concerning free trade will only be signed after Ukraine has held new presidential elections in May.
Van Rompuy, the European Council president, said the agreement would bring Ukraine and its 46 million people closer to the heart of Europe and a "European way of life".
"(This) recognizes the aspirations of the people of Ukraine to live in a country governed by values, by democracy and the rule of law, where all citizens have a stake in national prosperity," he said....
