Who was the one who ever said here that there were no extremists on maidan? I don't remember, but I remember a bunch of people saying that the WHOLE maidan thingy was made by nаzi and government is nаzi maidan-made. Also it's difficult not to insult a person like you because you refused to acknowledge the presence of external Russian military forces in Crimea even after even they confessed it. Same shit here again "invisible enemy Russia" and people who are "peaceful protesters" launching rockets to destroy helicopters. Yes, because Maidan ultra-nаzis used nuclear weapons against police I don't and I never considered hostile actions of protesters during Maidan as acceptable. But these separatists are just out of box. Robbing banks, stealing cars, blocking roads and etc. How are they different to terrorists? Once you take a gun - get ready to get shot.
And here I thought I was the worst analogist of this thread
You wont find any messages of me saying 100% of Maidan is extremist. How can someone say that since at one point the protest was a perma 100k+ event? I dont think there is even 100k people in Ukraine who would be ready to take up arms to oust Yanukovitch even at that time.
It is already more debatable to say that nationalist and fascist did the heavy lifting and probably pushed their pawns in the newly made government, which is something I believe, and believe even more seeing all the decisions they have made since then : one-sided diplomacy, full force stupid use of the police/spec ops/army and populist speechs that even you Dave must not be very proud of.
All the rest of your argument "they have uniforms/guns/rpg so they are russians" is a proof you dont know whats an insurgency that goes bad.
Once you take a gun - get ready to get shot.
Totally agree.
And I would add, when you send tanks, prepare to get RPG-ed.
If Maidan had been repressed by the army, you can bet your shirt that, first, you would be crying your eyes for justice to decapitate whole government, and second, that the people would begin arming themselves more seriously too.
When a rebellion doesnt die, it tries to arm himself proportionally to the threat to its own existence/continuity (also proportionally to those who are ready to supply them under the table, see next reveleation...
)
Been a long time I've really stated my own opinion, so here I'm gonna drop a bomb on you :
I also believe Russia is actively supporting the rebels in the east of Ukraine.But. And thats a big but, I dont think that every masked gunmen is a russian operative nor do I believe the eastern protests started thanks to Russia. Thats the 2 big lies running around that makes me wanna go blind sometimes to not see that kind of posting, especially when it is said by people who said the exact opposite lie (maidan only made of good natured ukrainians
) in the recent past.
They must have a few hundred agent provocateur running around (may have had lower/higher peak, closeness to the russian border help), setting up arm dealings with the local gung-ho and doing some priority targeting, but thats it.
Doing anything more and that would
really start to show everywhere on the net. And no, the few vids showing organized groups of 20-30 people taking down a police station or two is nor proof enough that they are russian; nor that if they were, would mean they have invaded with whole army divisions.
When Putin will want to do that, he will just use his "ethnic russian protection" card; and frankly, looking at what the Ukrainian army is trying to do (utterly crushing the resistance) that would be a totally legit pretext. The only thing stopping Putin atm is the complete incompetence of the Ukrainian army: since they fail without any Russian army intervention, why reveal your cards? But if they start to have any form of success and permanently re-take control of any nerve point of the Eastern Ukraine, Russia will probably react.
I also believe Maidan had the same kind of interference, so it must be put into perspective, but thats not a news for those who are in this thread
I think I've sent the topic back on its trail