The situation in Ukraine continues to degenerate:

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/26/kiev-protests-ukraine-police/4911855/

And at this point a civil war is starting to look like a worst-case scenario.

From the article in the link:

"KIEV, Ukraine — Opposition protesters seized one of the Justice Ministry buildings in central Kiev, according to media reports.

Dozens of Ukrainian protesters took over the building Sunday night, smashing its windows, Agence France-Presse reported. Similar reports were posted by RT.com (Russia Today), and Kyivpost.com.

AFP said its correspondent reported protesters appeared to encounter no resistance. It said they used trash containers to erect barricades outside the building.

Earlier Sunday, the Ukrainian opposition flatly rejected an offer from the president to share power following months of protests that turned deadly last week."

Ideally, in a best-case scenario this would be resolved by mediation and the Ukraine would move on from its crisis to establish a viable link between the opposition and the government. But with these protests accelerating from seizing provincial centers to now targeting buildings in the capital, it seems to me that if the leaders in Ukraine botch this the slide into civil war would be rapid. Because at this point it would take a great deal of tact to defuse this situation, especially with someone like Putin as a next-door neighbor/convenient proxy for disagreements with quite arguable influence that might turnout after the fact to be either misinterpreted or too inflexible even for the situation.

As ruling Ukraine already requires more than ordinary tact and this situation is accelerating, not defusing, it's a potentially very bad thing in the offing. That, however, still requires a few leaps be crossed that have yet to be and a government that decides to accelerate problems instead of trying to resolve them.

Comments

[brother-dour.livejournal.com]

Funny what happens when a government asks the people what they want, and then decides not to do that

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Well, in Ukraine's case the problem comes in that long-term gulfs between sections of that country aren't and haven't been bridgeable.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

I wish it were as simple as that.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

http://zyalt.livejournal.com/984735.html

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that link ;) That's some awesome photography (particularly the night shots).

[general-denikin.livejournal.com]

This revolution has nothing to do with the membership in EU. This is just a struggle between people of Ukraine and the thievish, oppressive ruling regime.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Some have already drawn dark scenarios drawing Ukraine toward eventual partition along linguistic, political and even economic lines:



The baggage behind this division is centuries old, and it won't simply go away, no matter the outcome of the current events

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

And the division is not just manifested on the streets of Kiev. The clashes have moved to the country as well. Nearly a dozen local administrations were taken over by the protesters across the country, two were besieged, and in four the authorities managed to repel the assault. Just a look at the map reveals where the future divisive lines will be passing.



Dark orange: under control of the revolutionaries
Light orange: blocked
Orange stripes: protests have started
Blue: supporting the authorities
Gray: forceful suppression of the protests