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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUkraine Says That Militants Won the East
By ALISON SMALE and ANDREW ROTHAPRIL 30, 2014
KIEV, Ukraine It is by now a well-established pattern. Armed, masked men in their 20s to 40s storm a public building of high symbolic value in a city somewhere in eastern Ukraine, evict anyone still there, seize weapons and ammunition, throw up barricades and proclaim themselves the rulers of a peoples republic. It is not clear who is in charge or how the militias are organized.
Through such tactics, a few thousand pro-Russian militants have seized buildings in about a dozen cities, effectively establishing control over much of an industrial region of about 6.5 million nestled against the Russian border.
Day by day, in the areas surrounding the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, pro-Russian forces have defied all efforts by the central government to re-establish its authority, and on Wednesday, Ukraines acting president conceded what had long been obvious: The governments police and security officials had lost control.
Inactivity, helplessness and even criminal betrayal plague the security forces, the acting leader, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, told a meeting of regional governors in Kiev. It is hard to accept but its the truth. The majority of law enforcers in the east are incapable of performing their duties.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/world/europe/ukraine.html?_r=0
msongs
(67,405 posts)moondust
(19,981 posts)shouldn't they just move to Russia? More than enough space there for everybody.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)The cops don't do anything, and the military appears to be a joke.
Is some hefty fraction of cops and soldiers (especially commanders) sympathetic to the separatist militants?
Edited to add: A government that can't control its own repressive apparatus is pretty much a joke.
joshcryer
(62,270 posts)For obvious reasons.
If Bundy's militas creeps took the Clark County Courthouse by force, they'd be slaughtered.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Do nothing and watch the East wander off on its own.
Do something and come face to face with the Russian Army.
pampango
(24,692 posts)There are plenty of historical examples of governments that could not control their security forces when confronted by overwhelming opposition whether domestic or foreign in origin.
Yanukovich; Aslan Maskhadov; Slobodan Miloević and too many others to count. Sometimes losing control of your security forces is more a function of the strength of the opposition (again domestic or foreign) rather than the legitimacy of the government.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)Kiev gave them a bad example
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)Especially the kidnapping of journalists and murdering of dissenting politicians. And you didn't see roving bands in Maidan carrying AK-47s and grenade launchers.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)In this world of mob democracy the Kiev government has received a no confidence vote.
The president better not leave kiev lest we assume he abandoned office like the last guy.
Another NATO misadventure.