4 ms·

When John McCain flies out and meets the head of the opposition, who thereafter storm the capital with assault rifles, and the president of the country flees, i

When John McCain flies out and meets the head of the opposition, who thereafter storm the capital with assault rifles, and the president of the country flees, it sure looks like a western backed coup to me.

throwaway894345 4y ago
A politician visiting a country (even expressing support for a rival politician) doesn't imply backing a coup, and indeed there was no coup--the capital was never occupied (in a military sense) by armed protesters as you claim, the president fled to escape justice (and indeed the supreme court convicted him of treason). Notably, the Yanukovych wasn't pushed out by any military or paramilitary, he was voted out by the (democratically elected) legislature and convicted by the court. That said, I'm sure the protesters were armed, as they were being fired upon by Yanukovych's forces (including snipers trained in Russia) and many protesters were killed. Moreover, McCain was advocating for a peaceful transition of power to stop the violence. While we're talking about suspicious foreign involvement, let's talk about the $15bn that Putin offered Yanukovych (and which Yanukovych accepted) hours before police were ordered to crack down on protests. Or the documents which showed that Russian officials served as advisers in the crackdown on protesters (operations Wave and Boomerang) including the use of snipers and the planned use of 22,000 security troops in Kyiv alone.
- linuxftw 4y ago
  > the capital was never occupied (in a military sense) by armed protesters as you claim I'm sorry, but this is a basic fact of the events, and you are tragically misinformed. Many people are misinformed, many media outlets played up the 'peaceful protests' angle, but there is no doubt, there was an armed insurrection. I think this article offers a glimpse of what was being reported at the time [1]. Scores of police captured, 3 killed, 28 shot. This was prior to the presidential palace being captured, that happened once the police flipped sides. 1: https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/kiev-ukraine-protesters-capture-67-police-103720 https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/kiev-ukraine-proteste...

throwaway894345 4y ago

A politician visiting a country (even expressing support for a rival politician) doesn't imply backing a coup, and indeed there was no coup--the capital was never occupied (in a military sense) by armed protesters as you claim, the president fled to escape justice (and indeed the supreme court convicted him of treason). Notably, the Yanukovych wasn't pushed out by any military or paramilitary, he was voted out by the (democratically elected) legislature and convicted by the court. That said, I'm sure the protesters were armed, as they were being fired upon by Yanukovych's forces (including snipers trained in Russia) and many protesters were killed. Moreover, McCain was advocating for a peaceful transition of power to stop the violence. While we're talking about suspicious foreign involvement, let's talk about the $15bn that Putin offered Yanukovych (and which Yanukovych accepted) hours before police were ordered to crack down on protests. Or the documents which showed that Russian officials served as advisers in the crackdown on protesters (operations Wave and Boomerang) including the use of snipers and the planned use of 22,000 security troops in Kyiv alone.

linuxftw 4y ago
> the capital was never occupied (in a military sense) by armed protesters as you claim I'm sorry, but this is a basic fact of the events, and you are tragically misinformed. Many people are misinformed, many media outlets played up the 'peaceful protests' angle, but there is no doubt, there was an armed insurrection. I think this article offers a glimpse of what was being reported at the time [1]. Scores of police captured, 3 killed, 28 shot. This was prior to the presidential palace being captured, that happened once the police flipped sides. 1: https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/kiev-ukraine-protesters-capture-67-police-103720 https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/kiev-ukraine-proteste...