ALJAZEERA Column: … The three major players in the opposition are hostile to each other. The boxing champion and leader of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform party (UDAR), Vitali Klitschko, is seen as glamorous and naive. The Fatherland Party leader, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, is viewed as a dutiful tool of the U.S. and billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The ultranationalist leader of the All Ukrainian Union “Freedom” Party, Oleh Tyahnybok, is seen as dangerous. The U.S. State Department reportedly favors the weakest of the three opposition leaders, the “liberal” Yatsenyuk…
The Kremlin has widely disseminated the opinion that the protesters are funded and encouraged by Obama administration toadies, such as Soros, a known supporter of the president and liberal causes. The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has complained of outside provocations and lack of Western media attention to the violence. “Why don’t we hear condemnations of those who seize and hold government buildings, who burn, torch the police, use racist and anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans?” he said…
The Kremlin, on the one hand, firmly believes that the Obama administration is provoking the Kiev showdown in order to punish Putin for his intransigence in the Middle East. Moscow also believes that, in the clash over Kiev, the European leaders of Berlin, Paris and London, as well as of the smaller states, will accede to Moscow because of the theme Putin has been emphasizing of a Common Eurasian Home… (more)
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