13/4/2014 How Ukraine's protesters gave country a second chance at reform - CNN.com EDITION: INTERNATIONAL U.S. MÉXICO ARABIC Sign up Log in TV: CNNi CNN en Español Set edition preference Home Video World U.S. Africa Asia Europe Latin America Middle East Business Entertainment World Sport Tech Travel iReport How Ukraine's protesters gave country a SHARE THIS Print second chance at reform Email By Taras Kuzio, Ukraine researcher, special to CNN More sharing February 23, 2014 -- Updated 1637 GMT (0037 HKT) Part of complete cov erage on Crisis in Ukraine Facing 'winner takes all' approach April 12, 2014 -- Updated 1124 GMT (1924 HKT) The West must w ork to contain Vladimir Putin's w orst instincts tow ards his European neighbors, w rites Robin Niblett. Protesters in Kiev, Ukraine, cheer Friday, February 21, after news of an What do NATO photos show? agreement between the government and opposition leaders. Violence April 12, 2014 -- Updated 0014 GMT (0814 HKT) recently intensified in Kiev's Satellite photos show the Independence Square, which has extent of Russia's military been the center of anti-government mobilization on its border w ith protests for the past few months. Ukraine, say officials. Unrest in Ukraine HIDE CAPTION Ukrainian citizens carry cost of conflict April 11, 2014 -- Updated 2133 GMT (0533 HKT) << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 > >> Everyday Ukrainian citizens are 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 feeling the pain as the cost of unsubsidized Russian fuel STORY HIGHLIGHTS Editor's note: Taras Kuzio is a Research Associate at the Centre goes up. Kellie Morgan reports. Ukraine's President flees capital for Political and Regional Studies, Canadian Institute for Ukrainian amid unrest; former PM released Studies, University of Alberta. The opinions expressed in this from prison commentary are solely his. Kuzio: Public outrage fuelled by Russian separatists in Donetsk dig in April 11, 2014 -- Updated 2040 GMT (0440 HKT) years of President's attack on (CNN) -- The mass protests a decade ago in Ukraine may have democracy CNN's Nick Paton Walsh looks been known as the Orange Revolution, but they never quite became at the pow er struggle in Kuzio: Pro-Russian Party of a genuine revolution -- and the opaque manner in which politics and Donetsk, Ukraine w here pro- Regions w ill have to find new Russia protesters continue to candidate for election business are undertaken in the country never changed. hold out. On the other hand, there's little doubt that the three-month long Euro-Maidan protests in Kiev are more of a genuine civil society- Why Putin is dictating terms to Kerry driven revolution with its own pantheon of martyrs. April 11, 2014 -- Updated 1103 GMT (1903 HKT) High-level talks to defuse the Ukraine crisis amount to a big The Euro-Maidan rallies exploded spontaneously in personal test for John Kerry November of last year in protest at President Viktor after a notably accident-prone first year as Secretary of Yanukovych's abrupt decision to drop the European State, says Simon Tisdall. integration that he and his predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, had been negotiating for seven years. Last Transnistria -- caught in time warp month's passage of anti-democratic legislation on "Black April 11, 2014 -- Updated 1010 GMT (1810 HKT) Thursday" incensed protesters, and the President's The roads are named after Taras Kuzio refusal to negotiate with the opposition led to two revolutionary icons: Marx, Engels, Lenin. There's also just explosions of violence that left dozens of protesters and plain "Communist Street" ... police officers dead and hundreds more wounded. READ MORE: Uncertainty reigns as President flees Crisis reveals cracks in Putin's empire April 11, 2014 -- Updated 1004 GMT (1804 HKT) Public outrage has been fuelled by years of attacks by the Yanukovych administration on Ukrainian democracy and Ukrainian national identity. The attacks have seen Ukraine transformed into http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/23/opinion/ukraine-second-chance/ 1/8 13/4/2014 How Ukraine's protesters gave country a second chance at reform - CNN.com what U.S. diplomatic cables have described as a "virtual mafia Will Vladimir Putin be remembered for squandering state." Lawlessness became rampant in the courts, police, security "a promising legacy" for service and on the part of lawmakers from the ruling Party of Russia? Regions and its satellite, the Communist Party of Ukraine. The NGO corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked Ukraine as the most corrupt country in Europe while the Heritage Foundation More protesters call for secession think tank ranked Ukraine as the country with the least economic April 10, 2014 -- Updated 1626 GMT (0026 HKT) freedom on the continent. Protesters in an eastern Ukranian region have declared themselves a new "People's Ukrainians felt that their rulers were treating them with Republic" and w ant a visible contempt as a conquered population. There was referendum to secede from Ukraine. no accountability or limits on what could be undertaken. The constitutional court was stacked with the President's cronies, the judiciary was corrupted, Parliament turned U.S. Navy ship sent to Black Sea into a rubber-stamp body where legislation was railroaded April 9, 2014 -- Updated 0236 GMT (1036 HKT) Opposition leader Tymoshenko returns It's part of the latest U.S. through without the votes. Opposition leaders, including military effort to demonstrate former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko -- the support for Eastern European President's archrival -- were thrown into jail. allies concerned about Russia's troop buildup along its border w ith Ukraine. Meanwhile, the government led by the Party of Regions' Nikolai Azarov undertook incompetent policies that Turning Crimea into 'Putinland' devastated the country's economy. Ukraine's foreign April 9, 2014 -- Updated 0311 GMT (1111 HKT) Ukrainian opposition leader w ants justice currency reserves were looted to half of its previous Ukranian novelist Andrey value, which pushed the nation to the brink of default. Kurkov says w ar w ith Russia The standard of living for most Ukrainians declined, but a is on everyone's minds. small clique of oligarchs and the President's family continued to amass fortunes through rigged government tenders that are now the subject of criminal investigations. Ukraine to Russia: I'm not your child READ MORE: Ex-PM goes from jail to center stage April 8, 2014 -- Updated 1307 GMT (2107 HKT) Vladimir Putin thinks Russia is CNN crew sees Ukraine violence firsthand the parent and Ukraine is a Together this provided a combustible protest mood that child, says Robert Gamble. united students, middle class professionals, businessmen, farmers, and workers. The Euro-Maidan were both anti- Soviet -- Yanukovych and Azarov were born in the late 1940s, when Joseph Stalin ran the Soviet Union and NASA to end activities with Russia Donetsk was called Stalino -- and nationalist, as well as April 4, 2014 -- Updated 0921 GMT (1721 HKT) NASA is suspending much of being pro-democratic and European. Young medic shot through neck in Kiev its w ork w ith Russia in light of its actions in Ukraine, though Unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. and space station collaboration w ill continue. European policymakers never understood Yanukovych and his Donetsk cronies. And their severe bout of wishful thinking that he had been converted to "European values" was very far from the NATO preparing 'strong options' truth. His foreign policy was pro-Yanukovych rather than being pro- NATO's General Philip Russian or pro-European. Yanukovych chose Russia over the EU Breedlove says it's critical to because he believed this would better serve his re-election deter further moves on Ukraine by Russia. chances, a step that backfired and led him to not even completing his first term. In reality, Yanukovych was very unlike other post-Soviet leaders Is Crimea gone? whose origins could be found in the Soviet nomenklatura elites and April 1, 2014 -- Updated 0940 GMT (1740 HKT) Annexation is no longer the among dissident nationalists. Growing up in the coal-mining focus of talks on the Ukraine backwater of Donetsk, the President was twice imprisoned in his crisis -- so is Crimea gone from Ukraine for good? youth. But his lucky break was to forge an alliance with the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov in the mid-1990s -- a powerful figure who has remained loyal to him to the bitter end. This propelled him into the governor's house in Donetsk and into the leadership of the Party of Near border, prayers for peace Regions -- a political machine that is now disintegrating before our March 31, 2014 -- Updated 1042 GMT (1842 HKT) "Of course I'm praying for eyes. peace. But I think the Russians w ill come in," says a resident Over the course of nearly two decades, Yanukovych provided of Ukraine's border region. political protection as regional governor, prime minister and party leader for old Soviet industrial bosses and tycoons, some with past and existing ties to organized crime, and who became fabulously Does Obama really understand Putin? wealthy. When he came to power in 2010 Yanukovych served notice March 30, 2014 -- Updated 1409 GMT (2209 HKT) upon them that he and "The Family," as his allies from his hometown Barack Obama is now making Jimmy Carter look like Attila the came to be known, now expected "tribute" and to live the lives of Hun w ith a series of empty aristocrats. His stupendous and tasteless Mezhyhirya palace, threats, says Andrew Kuchins. replete with hunting grounds, tennis courts, helicopters, saunas and http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/23/opinion/ukraine-second-chance/ 2/8 13/4/2014 How Ukraine's protesters gave country a second chance at reform - CNN.com a Spanish galleon are a symbol of his corruption and it is little wonder that protesters targeted the compound after he fled from How Obama can save the day March 26, 2014 -- Updated 1617 GMT (0017 HKT) Kiev.