I've said it before, I'll say it again.
Nicko, is it
SO EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that Ukrainians were sick of their own system and that's the basic reason behind the revolution?
They had very good reason too, their country had been steered like shit, and they could just look over the border and see how well Poland is doing to get an idea how things could have been.
East or West? What is best? If you think eastern system is better, you need a serious reality check. I'm an absolutely average middle class Norwegian. Seriously no special perks from birth. Come visit me, and we can sail on the Oslo fjord together, we can go to the mountains and ski, go anywhere totally safe. Everyone can have a decent life there. Everyone. The same for most of western Europe. If you can work, if you are not an idiot or a slob, you WILL BE FINE.
Now, the Ukrainan (Obvious by now) choice was too much for Russia, so they used the chaos of the revolution to quickly snag Crimea. They then proceeded to punish Ukraine for their choice, and making god damn sure, that a good decent life will never arrive in Ukraine by having a perpetual dagger placed in it's side. Ready to be twisted at Putins command.
That's the simple truth.
The west is far less morally corrupt than Russia. Poles are still Poles, Estonians are still Estonians. Swedes are still swedes in the EU. There is no hatred towards russians, just Russia/AKA/Putin.
Kissinger says in his new book, that Russians, even the intellectual ones, never really saw Ukraine as a separate country from Russia. This is the problem. Loosing Ukraine to the west makes Russians see red. It also symbolizes the final nail in the coffin for the Russian empire, and the Russian feeling of greatness and equalness to the US and the west.
I'm very sorry to say this. But the Russian SYSTEM (way of doing things) has already lost a long time ago. The world has moved on.
It is however almost impossible to acknowledge that this has happened for 1 person. For a whole people it is completely impossible.
So I don't blame you..