Sunday, December 1, 2013

Kiev Police: When Crowd Control Goes Horribly Wrong

First, the good news: The Kiev chief of police seems to realize that storming a camp of protestors doesn't make his troops look good.

Not-so-good news: folks who want Ukraine's government to sign an agreement with the European Union and hold elections got attacked by police in Kiev. That's their version. The chief of police says that the protestors started it. Maybe he's right, maybe not.

More good news: Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych, the country's current leader, says that he's "deeply outraged" by what Kiev police did. It's probably the only sensible thing he could say at this point: but political leaders don't always act sensibly.

The War on Terror: Accepting the 21st Century, or Not

In a way, Saturday's attack has very little to do with the war on terror.

As far as I can tell, Saturday's attack by Kievan police has nothing to do with Islamic extremists, or religion of any sort.

Nobody seems to have used car bombs, yelled "down with the Great Satan America," or sent anthrax through the mail.

However, I think the incident illustrates the sort of conflict we call the war on terror.

On the one hand, we have folks who seem to like the 21st century and think their country should get involved in current international affairs.

On the other are folks who might reasonably be expected to like things pretty much the way they were in the 'good old days.'

Control and Change

For some in Ukraine, that would be before the Soviet Union unraveled in 1991; for others, before 2004. That's when reformers forced a reasonable facsimile of an honest election down the throats of Ukraine's rulers.

For folks who like the status quo, particularly those who have had unquestioned control over the lives of others, this is not a pleasant era. Change is always happening, but we're in a time of great and rapid change.

I like it this way, but as I said: many don't; and some are willing to kill, rather than give up control.

Sunday in Kiev

Folks who want change in Ukraine are planning a very large public demonstration in Kiev today. They'll probably attract more people to their demonstration, and support around the world: thanks, I strongly suspect, in large part to the daft actions of Kiev police Saturday.

In the news:
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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.