Yes, there is no God, but there are different cultures and different lifestyles.
I was born in the Central Asia, my childhood was among the muslims.
I have never any problems with them.
The problems start arising when one nation (or one part opf population) would like to dominate the another one.
And the same happened in Ukraine when the Western Ukraines which have their specific history and their specirfic church (=uniats) and specific values by the strong support of West Europa and first of all the US wanted to impact and to impose the whole Ukraine where the Eastern ans Southern parts of the land had compleately different history, different church, different values and even (mostly) different language.
The financial peoblems are very difficult, but they could be solved gradually with the international money support. But no money can solve the problem of different cultures, different languages and different lifestyles.
That’s why I think that the integeraty of Ukraine could be solved for a long time only by the real federalisation where the Eastern, Western and Southern Ukrainians would be able to live together without striving to solve all problems by dominating one part over the other part violantly.
@Paule89: “The US and Russia/the USSR have treated the rest of the world like a chessboard since WW2 has ended. I´m on neither side. I hope that both Russia and the U.S. will either get weaker or less agressive some day.”
Do you really think that in nowdays Russia and Russians confess Communist Soviet ideals? And that Russia is following Soviet Union?
In my opinion saying that way is the same as to say that Germany in our time is following ideals of Nazi Hitlers Germany of 1930-1940. I really understand that its wrong.
How would you feel if I say like “I hope that Germany will either get weaker or less agressive some day.”, remembering Nazy Germany`s case against Soviet Union?
@Paule89: “I was talking about the occupation of Germany.”
Do not forget about Nazy Germanys assault upon Soviet Union in 1941 and about a cruell anti-human WW2 than was murdered at least 22 million Soviet people by Germans Nazy.
Under Soviet “occupation” did Soviets really murder Germans?
@Paule: “…My family can tell you about their experiences with the Russian definition of freedom.”
May be your family had experiences with SOVIET definition of freedom?
Please make difference between Soviet Union and Russia. Like Third Reich and Germany.
@Ferdy: “it’s not our God against their God, it’s not East against West. It’s simple right against wrong.”
East is right and West is wrong, you said.
Cold War is not over, as I see.
@sdom: ‘Do you support the delivery of arms to the Syrian terrorists to fight against the government?’’
Who’s the actual terrorist, the one who kills people because they are against the regime or the ones who pick up weapons to defend themselves ? Either you are a total stranger to what’s happening in Syria or you agree with the help that putin provides for one of the most disgusting regimes known in human history.
The issue in Ukraine is pretty delicate ( I hope there won’t be any combats between the two nations considering that my country is one of Ukraine’s neighbors - if you know what I mean). But it’s pretty clear who is right and who isn’t .
I for one think that putin should learn to sit quite in his bench one’s in a while . The reason for this is that he brings bad name to the normal and decent Russians ( I mean ever since with his support toward bashar people have been cursing Russia when in fact he ,Lavrov and the other sick politicians are responsible for the Russian weapons delivered to Syria’s army).
Admittedly we are all influenced by the news we read and listen to. This does not mean that we should not express our opinions, opinions which reflect what we read and hear.
From what I read and hear, the people who have seized buildings in Eastern Ukraine have limited popular support in the region. Even recent opinion polls show that the support for separatism, and even for the poorly understood term “federalization” is limited, and that Russian speakers there mostly do not feel threatened, despite the propaganda barrage from Russia. The violent “separatist” are no more representative of people in Eastern Ukraine, than Right Sector is representative of people from Western Ukraine, from what I can gather.
People everywhere in Ukraine seem to be fed up with corruption, the power of the oligarchs in league with politicians and criminals and just want to lead a better life, and to have more control over their own affairs, which may lead to some increase in local government autonomy.
There is an obvious conflict between the goal of many in Western Ukraine to see the “national language” become a key identifier of their country, and the desire of many in Easter Ukraine to have equal status for their language, Russian. We are used to these kinds of conflicts in Canada, and probably in Spain, Belgium and elsewhere. These are not issues that require people to seize buildings.
There is no comparing the violence in Eastern Ukraine with the Maidan events. At the Maidan hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated peacefully, mostly against the Yanukovich regime rather than pro-Europe, and stood in the cold for months. I don’t know the full details of how these peaceful protests turned violent, but it appears to me that it started with the violence perpetrated by the police, both on the barricades, and in kidnapping protesters, killing them and torturing them. In the end 108 protesters and over 20 police died. In comparison, in the Eastern Ukrainian events we see violent people seizing buildings, but we don’t see tens of thousands of people peacefully demonstrating.
To my knowledge no one in Eastern Ukraine has yet been killed by the police. If similar events had occurred in Russia I would imagine the reaction of Russian police would have been much harsher.
as for Jay’s comment
“Actually I don’t believe the two situations are terribly similar. As far as I’m aware, there were not large numbers of people living in Czechoslovakia who identified themselves culturally and linguistically as Russians? (Unlike in parts of the Ukraine today.)”
I don’t understand the point. Do you mean that the Sudeten Germans had every right to storm Czech government buildings in the late 1930’s? Or that the Russians who live in the Baltics or Kazakhstan have every right to do so? And that the Germans had the right to intervene then, and the Russians now? Just to clarify what you mean.
@MADARA: “Either you are a total stranger to what’s happening in Syria”.
I dare to say that it`s you who are a total stranger to what’s happening in Syria.
Syrian rebels are not only fighting against authorities, but killing civilians who not support them.
How can you explain the fact that Bashar Asad was elected as president first time by 97,29 % in 2000 and was reelected by 97,62 % in 2007.
You must say that people voted under “regime gun”, do not you?
@MADRA: “one of the most disgusting regimes known in human history”.
You probably made a mistake and wanted to tell us about a most disgusting syrian terrorists who make terrorist attack on civilians and, by the way, eat human hearts of their victims (its not a joke). Go to YouTube and make some search. If you defend such thugs, I dont know what to think…
By the way, I live in Russia where terrorists are making their evil things killing peaceful citizens. You may be think they “are against the Putin regime”? Your unliking Putin have 80% rate here.
@Steve: “I don’t know the full details of how these peaceful protests turned violent, but it appears to me that it started with the violence perpetrated by the police, both on the barricades, and in kidnapping protesters, killing them and torturing them. In the end 108 protesters and over 20 police died.”.
Steve, it`s unthinkable for me, that you believe that Ukrainian police “kidnapping protesters, killing them and torturing them”.
Do you really believe that in european country STATE POLICE kidnapping people and killing them? Of cause, Ukrain is not Canada, but…
@sdom: ‘‘Syrian rebels are not only fighting against authorities, but killing civilians who not support them.’’
Rebels? So if you want to express your aversion towards the one in charge of your country and then they start shooting you and later you try to defend , that makes you a rebel? A rebel is one you goes against a righteous leader not someone who fights against a regime that killed over 200,000 people and destroyed the homes of other 7 million .
‘‘eat human hearts of their victims’’ you shouldn’t confuse horror movies with reality.
And I can’t be a stranger to this situation considering that my father is from Syria and he’s been watching Al-Jazeera almost daily for the past 3 years or so. You may argue now that the Arab channel stations are biased but considering that they are the closest to the conflict zone proves the opposite .
I’m sorry to say but the media you watch is terrible biased so I shouldn’t hold your post against you .
sdm, just so I understand your logic.
Do you mean that rebels in Syria come from the 2.38% of the population who didn’t vote for Assad?
Even though Assad is an Alawi, and Alawis are only 12% of the population, you think that almost all the 80% Sunnis voted for him and still support him, in a tribal country like Syria?
More hysteria from the Russian government.
Russia’s foreign ministry has issued a blanket foreign travel advisory notice, warning Russian nationals to abstain from travelling to countries that have extradition agreements with the United States.
The ministry had issued a similar warning on September 2 2013, saying that Russian nationals risked “being detained or arrested at the request of American law enforcement.” In its latest notice, the ministry said that “such risk has increased recently in relation to the anti-Russian sanctions introduced by the US.”
“The US administration, baselessly refusing to recognise the reunification of Crimea with Russia, which is fully in line with international law and the UN statute, is attempting to make a routine practice of the ‘hunt’ on Russian nationals in third countries, with their subsequent extradition to the US and their sentencing on dubious, as a rule, charges,” the ministry said.
From Human Rights Watch web site http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/23/ukraine-police-beatings-kidnappings-kiev
"Riot police brutally beat several people, including a 17-year-old, who were detained on January 20, 2014, during a standoff in Kiev. In the early hours the next day, unidentified assailants kidnapped two activists from a hospital and severely beat them; the body of one of them was found the next day.
“Police in Kiev face serious challenges, but nothing can justify the vicious beatings we’ve documented,” said Yulia Gorbunova, Ukraine researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These are very serious crimes that need thorough investigation, and the people responsible "
“A bearded man with clever eyes can be seen in it. Yuri Verbizky, a 50-year-old seismologist from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, was found dead in a forest near Kyiv on January 22, 2014. His hands had been bound together with tape, and his corpse showed signs of torture.
Few details are known, but doctors have determined that Verbizky died due to exposure. Temperatures of around minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) are common at the moment in Ukraine. Police are investigating the case as murder.
Verbizky took part in protests in Kyiv and suffered an injury to his eye. Another activist, Ihor Luzenko, brought him to the hospital. Both were then kidnapped by around 10 unknown individuals and taken to the forest where they were beaten, Luzenko said in an interview with DW.”
@Steve: “…Do you mean that the Sudeten Germans had every right to storm Czech government buildings in the late 1930’s? Or that the Russians who live in the Baltics or Kazakhstan have every right to do so? And that the Germans had the right to intervene then, and the Russians now? Just to clarify what you mean…”
I support the right of all people to democratic self-determination. If a genuine majority of people in a particular city or region want greater autonomy from Kiev they should get it, IMO.
However, I wouldn’t endorse violence of any kind unless people are being denied a democratic process. (For example: violent struggle against white minority rule in South Africa would - arguably at least - have been fully justified, because in that context people were simply not able to enforce the majority-will by ordinary peaceful means.)
As regards the situation in Ukraine, I generally tend to sympathise with the Russian position, as I have said in other posts. But ultimately this isn’t my fight. People over there are going to do what they are going to do. It really doesn’t matter a fig what I think about it.
@Steve: “Do you mean that rebels in Syria come from the 2.38% of the population who didn’t vote for Assad?”
Not. Some of “rebels” (terrorists) are foreign mercenaries.
They just do their job for money.
@Steve: “In the early hours the next day, unidentified assailants kidnapped two activists from a hospital and severely beat them; the body of one of them was found the next day.”
@Steve: “Both were then kidnapped by around 10 unknown individuals and taken to the forest where they were beaten, Luzenko said in an interview with DW.”
You think it has done by police or secret service agents?
@sdom: ‘‘Some of “rebels” (terrorists) are foreign mercenaries.
They just do their job for money.’’
I have to agree with you here. Considering that bashar’s men are losing ground , they had to come up with another strategy to massacre all those who oppose the regime .
I hold a rather simplistic view on this.
The whole Ukrainian crisis is not about the Ukrainian people. It is not even about the Ukrainian economy or EU. It is all about the West and Russia.
No doubt the riots are being backed, funded, and orchestrated by both sides, both in Kiev and eastern Ukraine. They are there just to fuel the media war. Arguing about which side is more right or more wrong seems pointless to me.
I think it is obvious that neither side wants a direct war. Neither side can afford such a war. Sanction is a joke. It is now the matter of coming up with a diplomatic solution to ‘de-escalate’ the crisis, and most importantly to save face. Looks like to me Ukraine will be federalized somehow. At the end, I think Mr Putin will be the biggest winner. The West will learn not to stumble on Russia’s backyard again.
As for Syria, people there are now becoming more and more sick of the war. At some point in the near future, the party will be over and they will say bye-bye to the foreign mercenaries. Like it or not, Mr Assad will likely to stand.
The whole moral behind all these events, at least to me, is that you cannot play the same trick over and over again. Looks like somebody will need to come up with newer tricks in the future to topple other people’s governments.
I fully agree with Edwin.
@Edwin: I presume that you are as brain-washed as sdom is.
‘‘topple other people’s governments.’’ Excuse me? You think that bashar’s government is a legitimate one ? In a normal country even if you spit in the face of it’s president there’s no risk of getting killed .
‘‘Mr.Assad’’ ? How can you respect a blatant criminal like that ? Syria is in ruin because of his people bombarding all over the place( you can’t say its the revolutionaries fault because they don’t have airplanes ) .Thousands of children had their throats cut(some of them were uploaded on Youtube ) , women raped to the death ,mosques,churches destroyed and many more things happened because of that filthy sorry excuse of a man and his flunkies .
Trust me there’s no way in hell that he will remain in power after all that happened .
If you don’t have the right information then you shouldn’t try to convince others of it’s ‘veracity’ .