It\u2019s beginning to look like the situation in the Ukraine is best described as \u201ccomplex\u201d.<\/p>\n
Many have held that the pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine are nothing but puppets, acting at Moscow\u2019s direction.\u00a0 While that could well be the case \u2013 and I\u2019m sure Russia has a rather strong degree of influence on them – I\u2019m not sure I agree that they\u2019re “Russian puppets”.\u00a0 If they are, they seem to be pulling their own strings.<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently asked for east Ukrainian separatists to postpone the independence referendum scheduled for yesterday.\u00a0 However, those pro-Russian separatists refused to do so<\/a>.\u00a0 They held the referendum anyway.\u00a0 (Results were suspect – reportedly they were heavily in favor of “independence” for parts of the eastern Ukraine, in spite of recent poll results showing a majority in favor of remaining a part of the Ukraine.)<\/p>\n It also doesn\u2019t seem to be a simple \u201ceast\/west\u201d division within the Ukraine.\u00a0 In some respects, the country is indeed more-or-less divided into a western-leaning part in the west and a Moscow-leaning part in the east.\u00a0 That division is based both on politics and language (Ukrainian is the dominant language in the western part, while Russian is the majority language in the east).<\/p>\n However, other indications indicate that the situation is far more confused.\u00a0 Outside of the Crimea, legitimate and independent opinion polls show no clear preference for reunion with Russia.\u00a0 Even in the east, recent polls show that well over 50% of the population wants to remain a part of the Ukraine<\/a> rather than reunify with Russia.\u00a0 But many (if not most) in the eastern Ukraine also say they don\u2019t trust the new government in Kiev, either.\u00a0 (The population desiring to remain independent and trusting the Kiev government is obviously much higher in the western, Ukrainian-speaking portions of the Ukraine.)<\/p>\n