If you ever have the opportunity to visit some of the former Soviet satellite countries, take the time and do it. The minute you drive over the border from the European countries you know you're in the former Soviet Union. The communists swept into these countries like a lion feasting on the carcass of a dead animal; picking the bones cleaning and moving on to the next.
Anything of value was stripped and taken back to Russia. All the natural resources were feasted on and the people were left to working in positions that benefited Russia in one way or another. Homes are made of rotting wood with paint peeling and hanging off the sides. These countries look like scenes out of acropolyptic movies.
Some of these former Soviet countries are trying to be democratic, trying to rebuild their economies and wanting to join the European Union. Some, however, are bemoaning the loss of the Soviet Union as they sit on their hands and dream of the old times, the times when the communists ate them alive. And, they actually pray for Putin to bring those old days back.
The people of Ukraine want to be like the West. They want to be part of the European Union and they thought they elected a leader who respected that wish and shared it. Unfortunately, President Yanukovych decided to turn, under pressure, to Putin. It really isn't anything new. The Russians have been pressuring them on and off since the demise of the Soviet Union.
Kiev, now the capital of the Ukraine, has been Russia's submarine port for many, many years. After the split, the Russians pressured the Ukraine for the rights to maintain their submarine port at Kiev. Now Kiev is burning and protesters are dying every day. Citizens only want what they thought they were going to get, democracy, and the right to join the West.
And, what does America do to help them? Our president wants to enforce sanctions against the oligarchs who have all the money and back Yanukovych. Why is it that we think sanctions are going to solve all the world's problems? They only end up hurting the common man. Yet when it comes to making sure America gets its oil quota we are willing to go to war and destroy governments. If we were to help the people of Syria, Iran, Ukraine, we might have our status back, but no, we want to play games with sanctions.
The once most powerful nation on this planet is afraid to provoke Russia. Even though we know that Putin will push into Ukraine once its government has been torn apart and he will take over parts of Ukraine as he did in Georgia. Putin is trying to resurrect at least a semblance of the old Soviet Union on the backs of the innocent citizens who would fight and die for their independence; for their right to live like those in the West.
I side with the citizens of Ukraine and I pray that they will be able to overcome. Fight on Ukraine even if the burning continues.
