For much of its recent history, [Ukraine] has been viewed as divided between two regions— one oriented toward Eurasia/USSR in the east and one toward Central Europe in the west (Sellar and Pickles, 2002). The geographic location of the Ukraine — nestled in between Russia and Europe — and the subsequent mix of cultures, languages and histories of the citizens of modern day Ukraine have been the source of political and social unrest nation-wide for many years. The European Union/Russian Federation fault line that has always split the Ukrainian population was in large part the reason the most recent protests began in November. On November 21, 2013 President Viktor Yanukovych's government announced it was abandoning an agreement to strengthen ties with the European Union and was instead seeking closer cooperation with Moscow. Protesters took to the streets (The Associated Press). With these protests the contested identity of the Ukrainian people could be in its most fragile state, and when the initially peaceful protests had a less than peaceful response from police, the movement only gained more momentum. On December 1, 2013 more than 300,000 protesters occupied Independence Square (50.4500° N, 30.5242° E), known as the Maidan, in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. That same day protesters also seized control of Kiev City Hall. Many of these protesters set up camp in the square and in city hall, and barricades were built by protesters around the perimeter of the square to demonstrate their determination. Ten days later Ukrainian police flexed their muscles by quickly and forcefully clearing out the square and city hall. This only added fuel to the fire though, as the next day protesters gathered in even larger numbers and rebuilt strong...
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...ral Geography Vol. 26, No. 3, October 2009, 327-348.
Sellar, Christian and John Pickles, “Where will Europe End? Ukraine and the Limits of European Integration,” Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2002, 123-142.
Trenin, Dmitri. The End of EURASIA: Russia on the Border Between Geopolitics and Globalization. (Washington DC: Carnegie Moscow Center, 2002) 163-170.
State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, “All-Ukrainian Census 2001.” All-Ukrainian Population Census. http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/rus/results/general/language/ (March 15, 2014).
Wolff, Larry. Inventing Eastern Europe: the map of civilization in the mind of the enlightenment. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994.
The Associated Press, “Key Events In Ukraine's Political Crisis,” National Public Radio Online. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=285135410 (March 15, 2014)
"Revolution in Ukraine. Riot Police Snipers Shoot Civil Protesters." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
[2] Weaver, Matthew. "Ukraine Crisis." The Guardian. N.p., 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. .
The pro-Russian Yanukovich government was powerless against the popular movement of the Ukrainian people who demanded European Integration after the government’s decision to halt talks of the association agreement with the European Union and instead focus on the accession of Ukraine to The peaceful demonstrations that started in November 2013 lasted for months and turned violent in 2014. The Pro-European opposition clashed with the pro-Russian government. In regions where the European influence was strong the local governments were occupied by protestors. The culmination of the Euromaidan was the February Clashes, which became a revolution later on. Even though the movement ended with the signing of the association agreement, the new government had to deal with the difficult aftermath.
One of the biggest differences between the two incidences of Ukraine and the book we read would be the time periods, as well as duration of the disputes. Some say that racial injustice and oppression is still very relevant today, and of course the disagreement in the Ukraine is relevant due to the fact that it is all over the news at the moment. For the most part, black and white segregation was centered and isolated in the United States and stayed there overall. The thing about the Ukrainian struggle is that it started in Ukraine and Russia, and has stayed there, but it has a possible global ripple effect, if you will. Overall, the Ukrainian dilemma has already reached the world in terms of being aware of what i...
Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
In Ukraine there are people that are gathering at the Independence Maiden Square in Kiev. They all gathered at the square to rally against their PresidentYanukovych because he was not doing what they were hoping they will do. The government launched an attack against their own state because of the rallies that are happening. Petrou said, “Kyiv’s Independence Square is a blood-and-shoot warzone” (Petrou 127). Special police units went to the Independence Square, and they started to attack all the demonstrators with clubs, tear gas, and stun grenades. It was estimated that the police battered up 25,000 protesters, and while the police was busy with the protesters, other people went around and seized up some government buildings across the western part of Ukraine. Yulia Tymoshenko, a former Prime Minister, was jailed on dubious charges, but she is a deeply divisive figure among Ukrainians; she urged the people to take the streets to protest the government’s decision on the EU deal. After some time of being jail, she is now free and is walk...
...ough choices. This decision and the ramifications for the future of Ukraine and around the globe have been brought about by ordinary people who just stood up for their freedom and human rights. Ukraine has had to pay for choosing freedom and human rights with blood and death, therefore the world should take a closer look at what is often taken for granted. Euromaidan is far from over and has many more lessons to teach the world, if it will listen and learn.
Wilson, A., & Popescu, N. (2009). Russian and European Neighborhood Policies Comapred. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 9, 317-331.
In a speech broadcast to London via radio on October 1st, 1939, Winston Churchill famously said: “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma (Murdico, 1).” While it is true that Churchill was referring to his inability to predict the country’s actions in regards to the impending world war, the words can be used to illustrate a general confusion and lack of understanding, by both western and eastern powers alike, concerning the massive nation. Russia, as it stands today, currently encompasses about 6.6 million square miles of land (Murdico, 1), and is the largest country in the world by land mass. Along with a large area, Russia also has quite the large reputation; having been through two world wars, governments both communist and imperial, and a slew of civil wars and internal struggles. Russian politics and history is still today a hot topic of conversation, yet very little of this conversation mentions anything pre-WWI. It may be difficult to say exactly why this is so, as a great number of factors, including first an foremost our own cultural biases and perspectives come in to play, but it is true that Russia may confuse us because it is nearly impossible to categorize as being entirely “western” or “eastern” in nature. It is not really European nor is it truly Asian. Instead it has been shaped by a blend of different cultures and political ideologies that certainly include both European and Asian influence. Playing a huge role in this is the geography of the area; its location lends itself to contact with and, more importantly, being attacked by surrounding societies while still being pushed up against the corner of a continent in an almost isola...
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe, that borders Russia north and northeast. Lately Ukraine has been making international headlines; the country is in complete and total turmoil or for lack of better words a crisis. What started as a request from the Ukrainian citizens for a change in government, limit the powers of the president, restore the country constitution back to its original form from 2004-2010, and get closer ties to the EU. Peaceful protesting turned in to a nightmare, when the then president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych failed to make good on his word. Instead, he made a deal with Russian president and late sought refuge in Russia. A few weeks later, he was ousted from this prompted the Ukraine revolution and the annexation of Crimea also known as the Crimean crisis. A revolution in Ukraine took place in February 2014 for a period of 5 days in Kiev the capital of Ukraine, after a series of violent events in the capital culminated with the ousting of the then-President of Ukraine. Immediately following the ousting of Yanukovych, immediate changes took place in Ukraine’s sociopolitical system. Starting with the a new interim government being installed and the constitution was restored to its original state, and plans to hold impromptu presidential elections in the months to follow. Before the revolution, Ukraine had been sunken by years of corruption, mismanagement, lack of growth economically , their currency value had dropped , and they had the inability to secure funding from public markets. Because of this, president Yanukovych wanted to establish closer relationship with the European Union (EU) and Russia in order to attract the money necessary to maintain Ukraine's standard of living without a...
In a Post soviet environment World has evovled around a unipolar system with united states having a preponderance in international matters. The remanants of the cold war still haunting europe. Most of the Eastern European nations formally allied with soviet union are now turing away from russia towards European union. The Reasons for this paradigm shift owes a lot to the democratic ways of the liberal western world and the economic ties and stability being offered to its allies. Hitherto Ukraine was in a dilemma whether to join the western block or to to under the patronage and shadow of Russia. The Multi ethnic population of Ukraine has different opinions. Some favour Russia and others favour European union. Their choices seems to be motivated by geographic and cultural proximity. The Immediate cause of the current crisis traces its origin to the Ukrainian presidents descision to forfeit an agreement with the european union. And Endorsing the russian aid in terms of a bail out plan and an added gas price reduction. So the current crisis has far reaching political and economic ramifications. If russia pulls out of the economic bail out package there needs to be an alternative. European union has a responsibility to ensure the regional peace. A military action in Ukraine would further deteriorate the situation and may escalate it to a multiparty conflict.
"Why Crimea Is so Dangerous." BBC News. N.p., 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 Apr. 2014. .
The Ukrainian crisis was a result of social upheaval against the former president, Mr. Yanukovich, who decided to pull out of the association with the European Union (BBC News, 2014). The upheaval that lasted for about two months resulted in more than 100 people killed (NY Times, 2014). In February 22 Mr. Yanukovich disappears and the opposition takes control over the government in Ukraine (BBC News, 2014). Upon learning that Mr. Yanukovich is currently residing in Kazakhstan, the new government of Ukraine requests from Kazakhstan the extradition of the overthrown president, who is accused of crime against the Ukrainian citizenry.
Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. "Slovakia." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 2358-2359. World History in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
The conflict between the Ukraine and Russia is the Ukraine's most long-standing and deadly crisis; since its post-Soviet independence began as a protest against the government dropping plans to forge closer trade ties with the European Union. The conflict between Russia and the Ukraine stems from more than twenty years of weak governance, the government’s inability to promote a coherent executive branch policy, an economy dominated by oligarchs and rife with corruption, heavy reliance on Russia, and distinct differences between Ukraine's population from both Eastern and Western regions in terms of linguistics, religion and ethnicity (Lucas 2009).