Thank you for clarifying that Tymoshenko only wanted to kill, not nuke Russian speakers, Beaglesaresweet.
I am sure Ukrainians can feel the love -- they speak the language after all.
Tymoshenko is riding what she hopes is a popular wave of nationalism and hatred of Russia -- any flag for a charlatan.
Maybe you have forgotten about the existence of US army bases in 156 countries throughout the world? They are there in such numbers because the US considers itself to be in a state of 'permanent war'. There are just over 250,000 military personnel stationed worldwide. There are approximately 66,000 military personnel stationed in Europe. The total number of 'military contractors' is not available.
If can stop frothing about hysteria for a while and reread my posts you will see I have pointed out repeatedly that Russia and Germany are significant trading partners and that both see European stability and continued trade as highly desirable. '
I would also like to correct your assertion about the Baltic countries: ...the hatred from (especially ) Baltic countries is understandable in the circ, don't you think? The Baltics who had nothing in common (language, culture) with Russia before it was give to Stalin by Hitler first then taken back , then gone back to ussr after WW2.
You must be unaware of the long linking of the history of Imperial Russia with the Baltic region, much of which from the 1720s to the end of WW1 was part of the Russian Empire, having passed from Swedish control. Those parts that did not come under Imperial Russian control in the 1720s fell into the hands of Prussia.
Under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact they came under Soviet control in 1939 (you know that alright). They then were subsumed into the Third Reich, but the Nazis were defeated and the Baltic states, which had enjoyed independence for the first few decades of the 20th century once came under Soviet rule, a fiat accepted by the UK and US. So much for a brief outline of history. Language and culture wise, I think you will find that there were many links between the Baltic region (in Imperial Russia) and Russia from the Imperial period all the way to the end of the Soviet period. Notable among the bonds between the two was the service as administrators and as Imperial Russian military officers of part of Baltic elites, and government service of various different kinds among other classes too.
Having watched the opening ceremony of the London games, I noted no pageant element depicting the devastating Irish famine of the 1840s that saw millions die of starvation or emigrate while food was exported, even though at that time London was the political capital and seat of government of Ireland, the United Kingdom was called 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland', and the two islands were a single political entity and had been since 1170. There was no exciting depiction of British gunboats firing shells into the heart of my own native city. No actors portraying a truckload of Black and Tans on a drunken rampage, shooting cattle on one grandfather's farm or raiding the home of my other grandparents, setting curtains in the diningroom alight while upstairs my grandmother lay in bed with a baby born that morning. I think it would have been riveting. U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' could have provided an appropriately martial musical background. Nevertheless, it was a hugely entertaining opening ceremony and I forgive the director (whose name indicates his paternal ancestors may have been Irish fwiw) for any omissions.
Because that was then, and this is now.
I also think some more of the history of the People's Republic of China wouldn't have gone amiss in the Beijing Olympic extravaganza. Maybe a little about re-education camps or a re-enactment of the dramatic standoff in Tianamen Square (I am sure you know the one I mean). Or maybe some Falun Gong practitioners could have done their thing.
I actually found the Russian Olympic opening ceremony a most interesting piece because of the clear contrast between the mood and colour and music used to depict the period from the Revolution to WW2 when Stalin consolidated his hold on the USSR through a reign of terror, and that of the rest of the programme. The evocation of the pre-Revolutionary period was as pretty as the portrayal of the USSR from the end of the red/machine/war bit. I don't think there was any ambiguity in the portrayal of the early Soviet period. In fact, by means of the contrast, the Stalin period with its industrialisation, tractors, train, giant gears, etc., came off quite badly. (The Industrial Revolution shown in the London opening ceremony was a very jolly affair by comparison.)
I think the Russian Federation's support for the restoration of the Orthodox Church, its reintegration into public life, and especially the gesture of the rebuilding of the Cathedral of Christ our Saviour in Moscow indicate quite the opposite of any hankering after a reincarnation of the Soviet Union. I think the Pussy Riot episode has been misunderstood in the west because the rather secular west underestimates the abhorrence of Russia for the sacrilege and iconoclasm that accompanied the Russian Revolution and the Soviet period. Back to the Sochi Olympic opening ceremony (and thank you for bearing with me if you're still reading) the appearance of the onion dome motif at various points of the programme was a symbol that unified the distant past and the present, while it was signally absent from the mechanisation period, which I thought was significant.
In case you are accusing me of saying Tymoshenko and Yatseniuk are from the same party, again you are barking up the wrong tree.
Overall my comment to you is 'bless...' if you sincerely believe the upcoming election of Poroshenko is going to solve Ukraine's problems.
So far, all Ukrainians have shown a propensity for is vicious hatred of each other, a complete inability to try to work together for the common good, and a tendency to take to the streets with weapons, flags and cans of spray paint, instead of respecting and participating in good faith in the institutions and processes designed to give expression to the democratic spirit. Corruption is another salient tendency. Please don't try to tell me Poroshenko has managed to keep his hands clean and still make his millions.
Your post, especially your shrill insistence that the Baltic states have nothing in common with Russia, demonstrates how difficult the road ahead for Ukraine (and for the Baltic states) will be until everyone concerned accepts that Ukraine (and the Baltic states) are not, in fact, history's ultimate victims, but in many cases were willing henchmen of those powers they now vilify, selectively and separately.
You do not want to hear this I am sure, but until people start looking for what they have in common with each other and stop focusing on what tears them apart there will be no political future for Eastern Europe. Political culture and discourse that continuously screams about difference and separateness from some outside enemy is guaranteed to be backwards-looking and to shortchange the people of those countries where this sort of immature, narcissistic self-indulgence goes unchallenged.
It reminds me very much of the inability of the Republic of Ireland to distinguish between a 'burning love for Ireland' and a 'burning hatred of Britain'. The result of that failure was devastating for Ireland.