Originally Posted by deltav

It's a nasty, complex situation. Plenty of videos of police brutality out there too.

It should be noted that there *is* a growing presence of far-right Ukrainian nationalists (mostly from the west side of the country) amongst the protesters, eerily reminiscent of how radicals started to co-opt the grassroots movements in Syria, Libya, even going back to Croatia where lunatic Ustashi-types helpfully killed any international sympathy for those fighting Milosevic.

Throw in a long history of Russian domination, EU & USA handwringing and lack of any constructive alternatives, totally corrupt govt (and remember the opposition was in power before Yanukovich, they were crooks too), etc, and I dunno how things don't spiral further.

I'm guessing whatever happens Russia will benefit the most (i.e. keep Ukraine solidly in their sphere), they're the only ones with power who are applying a consistent steady policy & pressure.