Fear of Russia has won out in Kiev over hope for a better future in the West:
Ukraine abruptly abandoned a historic new alliance with its western neighbors on Thursday, halting plans for an imminent trade pact with the European Union and saying it would instead revive talks with Russia.
EU officials, who had been preparing to sign the long-negotiated deal at the end of next week, said President Viktor Yanukovich cited fears of losing massive trade with Russia when he told an EU envoy this week that he could not agree terms.
Yanukovich's prime minister issued the dramatic order to suspend the process in the interests of "national security" and renew "active dialogue" with Moscow. ...
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, a veteran of east-west diplomacy on the continent, was blunter: "Ukraine government suddenly bows deeply to the Kremlin," he tweeted. "Politics of brutal pressure evidently works."
Funny. Russian pressure and threats against Ukrainians led Ukrainians to rally around the flag, all right--right around Russia's flag. We really need to approach our nuclear talks with Iran differently, don't we?
As bad as the EU is, it was Ukraine's best hope to break free of Russia's pressure to be reabsorbed into Russia.
The empire is sneaking back, pulling Ukraine (how long before they have "The" back in front of their name, as in Soviet times?) and Belarus back into Mother Russia.
Ah well. This should also be a lesson that the Arab Spring needs our support to continue the fight against both autocrats and Islamists. Back in the day, the Orange Revolution offered real hope to Ukrainians to be free to choose their friends. But the West was unable to pull Kiev west before the Russians revived to seek a new empire.
We'll need more exercises in eastern NATO as the Baltic states and former Warsaw Pact countries of eastern Europe become NATO's new front line.
UPDATE: A walk down memory lane for Ukraine:
It's been nearly a century since Ukraine's last effort to decisively embed itself in the West ended up instead with the country being subsumed by Moscow.
Is that history now repeating itself?
If Ukraine can't manage to move west now with the most powerful military alliance ever built--NATO--on its border, when will it be able to engineer the switch to the West?
Ukraine's kulaks were unavailable for comment.
UPDATE: That was a heck of a meeting lasting to 5:00 a.m.:
Ukraine's abrupt decision to return to Mother Russia's bear hug after a flirtation with western Europe can be traced back to a secretive meeting of their two presidents two weeks ago. ...
But Russian government sources said President Viktor Yanukovich's decision had become all but inevitable after a mysterious meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on November 9 about which almost nothing has been reported.
"It turned out beautifully - like stealing the bride at the altar," an unnamed government official told the Russian business daily Vedomosti. "Everything changed after the meeting."
Yeah, lovely little province you got there. It would be a shame if something was to happen to it.
Stealing a bride is an interesting simile. It seems more brutal than romantic. This isn't exactly Sleepless in Kiev material, eh?
Of course, you have to admit that the Ukrainians were pretty much asking for it.
We'll see if the Ukrainians merely bought some time until 2015 elections to pass before risking Russia's wrath as they hope, or whether the best chance Ukraine has had in a century to steer away from Moscow was just lost.
UPDATE: A number of Ukrainians don't seem to be happy about renewing their membership on the Soviet Union:
Some 3,000 people turned out on the evening of Novermber 22 in Kyiv to express their dissatisfaction with the government's decision the previous day to suspend talks with the European Union on signing an Association Agreement.
Some minor clashes with police were reported.
Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko was among the demonstrators in Kyiv and said the crowd wants Ukraine's government to sign the agreement at an EU Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius next week.
Similar demonstrations were held in other cities around the country. In the western city of Lviv, several thousand people protested, chanting "Glory to Ukraine."
Ukraine's prime minister said the signing deal was merely put off 6 months. Perhaps they really do just want to get through the winter without a Russian energy blockade.
We'll see if the spring brings a better climate for escaping Moscow's orbit.
Putin won't be twiddling his thumbs with the time he bought, as Syria shows.
Meanwhile, Moldova seems intent on getting away while they can:
Moldova is expected to initial an Association Agreement with the European Union at an Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius next week.
Voronin told the ITAR-TASS news agency that Moldova "should follow in Ukraine's footsteps" by suspending preparations for the agreement.
Yeah, be good subjects and just line up like you're told, eh?
UPDATE: Say, let's remember the price of Soviet control, shall we?
Thousands of Ukrainians marched Saturday through central Kiev to commemorate the 80th anniversary of a devastating Soviet-era famine that killed millions amid public anger over the government's decision to snub a potential landmark deal with the European Union and tilt toward Moscow.
The famine was engineered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1932-33, in an attempt to force peasants to join collective farms. Ukraine's parliament has labeled the famine, known here as Holodomor — or death by hunger — as genocide.
Remember, Ukrainian authorities say this cancellation of the EU deal is just about trade. Well, that famine was all about providing grain for Soviet exports--just trade.
Kulaks are still unavailable for comment.
UPDATE: Bigger demonstrations:
About 50,000 demonstrators rallied in the center of Kiev on Sunday to demand that the Ukrainian government reverse course and sign a landmark agreement with the European Union in defiance of Russia.
The protest was the biggest Ukraine has seen since the peaceful 2004 Orange Revolution, which overturned a fraudulent presidential election result and brought a Western-leaning government to power.
We'll see if it even matters to the government and their new friend Putin.
