[opionion-matter]

Finally someone who gets it ... It's not about corruption, it's about control, don't forget that a major gas-line runs through Ukraine, supplying the rest of Europe with gas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Major_russian_gas_pipeline...). The future "wars" will be about resources, which gas is.

The biggest group of protesters are all right-wing and not at all want to belong to Russia, if you ask the opinion of the other part of the Ukranian people you will hear different stories, we only get to see the destruction and get to hear the pro-right-wing protesters. The statement that everything will be "better" when they will belong to Europe is also a misconception. A lot of people in Ukraine live of a pension that ranges around 100 - 200 Euro per month, now don't think these people can afford food from the neighborhood supermarket, prices are too high, they can only survive by going to markets and buying from farms. Imagine what happens when they will join Europe, prices will inflate, pensions will not go up because there is no money for it ... Etc... There's much more behind it ...

Nobody cares about the people, it's all about control and resources.

[mtrimpe]

The main problem isn't that the US & EU care too much. It's that they don't care nearly enough.

Russia cared enough to provide several billion dollar relief loans and a 30% discount on gas prices to cancel the negotiations with the EU.

The EU didn't offer any financial aid, because they didn't care particularly much for Ukraine joining the EU.

[emocakes]

Same situation in Syria, Only reason the west cares is because they want their 'friendship pipeline', might as well pay radicals to try topple the government so someone who would agree with US policies can be installed.

Joining the EU is probably the worst thing that can happen to Ukraine. Only high performing nations benefit from the EU, everyone else gets screwed by the regulations.

I remember reading an article that had certain people expressing outrage over the fact that Russia would scrap its free trade agreement with Ukraine if they join the EU. They didn't seem to realise that if Russia didn't do this, the russian markets would be flooded with cheap crap from the EU.

[varjag]

> Joining the EU is probably the worst thing that can happen to Ukraine. Only high performing nations benefit from the EU, everyone else gets screwed by the regulations.

This is not the whole story. Broke in their time nations like Ireland or Portugal benefited immensely from joining the EU. While they are not anywhere near "high performance" still, participating in common labor and trade market with enforced regulations standards pulled them out of mud.

Also let's not forget that the alternative is integration into Russian zone of influence. You can doubt the merits of EU, but life as a Russian colony would not bring prosperity (let alone justice) to Ukraine, no matter how many petrodollars circulate in the metropole. Ukrainans will always be an afterthought.

[xyzzyz]

They didn't seem to realise that if Russia didn't do this, the russian markets would be flooded with cheap crap from the EU

And now they get expensive, quality stuff from China and Bangladesh indeed, makes sense.