When is one 'revolting public' not the same as another? In every case I expect but two situations in the current news cause contrary and entirely different reactions in me: in burning Ukraine I am concerned that - once again - the whole story isn't being told - Raedwald says it better: "Wicked, cruel and corrupt President outed by righteous populace and beautiful princess rescued from prison; democracy reigns, prosperity arrives, the Sun shines and all the people are happy runs the myth. The truth is rather more grey, much murkier and full of those inconvenient moral dichotomies that intrude into real life." And, concurring again "And contrary to expectations, it's the Mail that carries the most prominent narrative counter to the fairy-tale being told by the BBC" about the 'political earthquake': Ukraine and especially Crimea is so much more than just an area between Russia and the West (NATO/EU/US).
And as Europe and most of the world watches Ukraine, in Venezuela the situation takes a similar road for very different reasons. There are similarities: the burning scenes, the street protests, the deaths, the useless Insulza (and OAS) playing the part of the useless Ashton (and EU) but in Venezuela there is almost a communication hegemony, rampant crime, 'war-zone' murder rates, near zero Accountable Government and Delivery of Justice [PDF, 1 page], longer and bigger blackouts, queues for food staples, record bond yields (telling the tale and belying Krusty Lite's ridiculous blaming of anyone and everyone for propaganda and sabotage) and the ever-powerful local armed militias - now as ominous and obvious as they were then -to name a few of the major differences. The image from some of yesterday's demonstrations: El pueblo se mueve...
In Venezuela the case is clear for a people's uprising, in Ukraine it is not...IMHO.
Update: interesting debate on HuffPost Live (in English), originally aired the night before the 22nd Feb protests (image); Ahmed Shihab-Eldin does a good job as mediator!
Update 2: Brendan making sense of the Ukraine situation HERE.
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