Ukraine Burning
Since November 2013, anti-government protests in Ukraine have engulfed central Kiev. These protests dubbed "Euromaidan" escalated in January 2014 when police and protesters clashed over a new and highly controversial protest law. This law could send you in prison for wearing a mask at a protest or even setting up a tent without police permission.
The fighting lasted for four days and left hundreds injured and at least two dead from gunshot wounds. The clashes centered around Hrushevskoho street on the eastern edge of the Maidan when new barricades have been set up and shaky cease-fire was in place.
In the early days of the protest the opposition parties were influential on the streets. But after weeks of stagnation protesters were getting tired of the continuing political stalemate. After trying to negotiate an extension of the cease-fire and constantly being shouted down Klitschko finally gave up trying to talk with the protesters and retreated from the barricades. After hours of intense clashes eventually things calmed down and uneasy standoff continued.
It felt like the protests had entered a more peaceful phase. However on the 18th of February violent clashes kicked off again outside Parliament which left 26 dead and hundreds injured, and the prospect of Independence Square being cleared for good became a worrying reality.
What began as a protest against the Ukrainian government's close relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin has nearly become a civil war. Yanukovych was in no mood to give up his power but Parliament voted to remove him and hold new elections. Yanukovych fled Kiev after protesters took control and Ukraine's provisional government issued a warrant for his arrest. Russian troops took over Crimea without firing a shot and since then the situation in Ukraine became an open and difficult international problem.
Check out Oliver Stone's Ukraine on fire.
Who is pro-russian & who are Jewsa Protagonists??
Oh i see ''Vice'' has made a video on Ukraine. Without even watching it am pretty sure that Putin is to blame here too.
What makes you belief that?
More background information about Ukrainian history and this particular conflict is needed
What on earth is so important that it couldn't wait until election time? This stinks and it reminds me of a quote....; "Whenever you have something foul going on, more often than not; when you peel back the layers you find the same maggots underneath it all."
Reminds me of when I came back from Nam and watching the rest of the war on TV - Freaky!
That's not them fighting that's us fighting - and its not history its now -
Looks like one of those games my grandchildren play on this machine - Again Freaky.
Typical VICE Doc. Visually interesting but lacks detail. I am not to sure what is actually going on Ukraine. I think Crimea will leave the Ukraine in the next few weeks. But I cant see this spilling into anything more. I don't think Russia will send troops into Eastern Ukraine, but we will see.
Indeed...
It's all so confusing. Political games of power and other sick ambitions.
But in short it is a foretaste of the rich against the poor war .
Don’t bother, I watched this whole program, it has nothing to give in understanding the conflict. The show is the usual ‘Vice’ drivel, full of personal interest stories presented through a limited and biased viewpoint. This is typical of most US reportage, the exact equivalent of the embedded ‘reporter’ from main-stream media in Iraq and Afghanistan, presenting only the official western line. There is no balance, no discussion, no background, and nothing of any substance. The Neo-Nazi role in the fight is brushed away in a few sentences; there is no mention of western & CIA involvement. Neo-Nazi Ukrainian national self-defense (paramilitary group Chechen wars) is barely mentioned. Yet we do get a good introduction to a man playing a piano in his helmet. Interestingly many of these ‘independent fighters’ refuse to remove their face masks. I feel sorry for the people of the Ukraine, it is clear that the protest was orchestrated by the west and elite in Ukraine to usher in an oligarchic regime - shown by the immediate ban on Russian as an official language and legalization Neo-Nazi regalia. This is important because of the legacy of German collaboration during World War 2 (the history of Ukraine is not even mentioned in this report). I leave the last words to one of the protesters and the narrator - “This is the future of this country…a post-apocalyptic nightmare.”
I have to agree that VICE methods are questionable and partial. They just throw in someone with a microphone and a camera in the heat of the action and do very little analysis if what was told them was credible.
Yeah, but that's the point. They are biased, sure, but that is only because the documentary is centered around the protesters. Vice has managed to give the protesters a voice, and to show us a first person perspective of what it is like for them going through this tough time. IF ALL THEY ARE FIGHTING IS FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM, THEN THAT IS ENOUGH REASON TO SEE WHO THE 'GOOD' GUYS ARE
Have you paused long enough in between commenting and searching for the cap locks key to consider how and why this reporter seems to have such unfettered access? Would it not matter who is giving the protesters a voice and why? If there's a bias then how do you honestly know what the true motives of the protesters are?
It is pretty obvious what is going on, Russia is trying to passively invade Ukraine because their democratically elected leaders had sold out to Russia but the Ukraine people object to this and the protests are a democratic vote of the majority to say 'Hey we don't want this!'. The Protesters are using non-violent methods to make their point, and would solve their issues independently and peacefully rather than have the super power Russia dictate the terms.
A protest is not a democratic vote. It seems to me that a good portion of the country is really more aligned with Russia if you examine the past elections results carefully. It might be the majority in Kiev but definitely not all over the country especially in the east.
The people involved in the protests are making a vote, simply by being there. It does not follow due process but it sure as hell is a vote for every person standing there against the government in power. 77.8% are ethnic Ukraine, and 17% are Russian.You could argue your point that areas in Ukraine have a larger Russian population but to compare, in Australia here we have areas like Sunny-bank where a large majority of people are Asian but that does not mean that area should belong to the Chinese, Koreans, or by any non-Australia people in that area - the same argument can be used in Ukraine.
Trying to reduce the conflict to ethnicity seems an over-simplification of what is going on in that country. I am from province of Quebec, Canada where we had 2 referendums on independence and the french didn't all vote yes.
hey dude, I never said it was the only factor to consider. If your talking about Crimea then yeah, it really is up to them, but it looks like Russia is pushing pretty hard on this one. Here we got fooled into the Carbon Tax like you :/
No Yanukovych wouldn't accept bad terms from EU knowing better deal from Russia so West pulled a fascist coup.
Hi sorry for the delay. You replied to my question about CIA involvement? But your comment was deleted. 13 days ago....
My original post is below:
**Is there any evidence of CIA involvement? .....Also why would normal citizens favor an oligarchic regime? Surely this is against their own interests.
They replace it with another Oligarchic regime? Poroshenko, the new president is certainly one. And so are the others that now represent the new government. And certainly there was USA involvement.
Fighting for peace seriously sounds like an oxymoron to me.
Is there any evidence of CIA involvement? .....
Also why would normal citizens favor an oligarchic regime? Surely this is against their own interests.
I <3 Putin
I 3 -- - - - and ---------<==3 on Putin.
For any of you trying to understand the geopolitics around Ukriane, I would suggest a youtube channel named "Caspian Report". The guy in the channel offers very realistic perspectives about all geopolitics around the world. Check out his 3 new videos on Ukraine.
Thank for the recommendation. I've just checked out that channel, there's some very informative stuff there.
I had to do a lot of research to get an idea of what was going on and why.
There's so much info from the media right now and I found it very overwhelming.
Same here more or less. I've noticed that the news outlets seem to be ignoring the objective of informing in favour of guiding opinion and have assumed we're good with that. It's been frustrating to watch. It's no wonder people's views are so lopsided regarding this situation. And then you have the same thing on the other side with the likes of RT. If we're not privy to the bigger picture then we're prone to eat up just about anything.
Edit: Of course it could just be me getting my news from bad sources. Wouldn't be the first time.
Yes informative reports from Caspian Report, but man are they dry. I prefer how VICE does it and this is an excellent report on how the action is going.
Thanks VICE on another well done doc!
wow!
+1