The Future Of The Ukraine

Max Boot posted an article at Commentary Magazine today about the recent events in the Ukraine.

The article states:

The agreement reached between President Viktor Yanukovych and Ukrainian opposition leaders is about as good as the anti-government forces can possibly hope to get.

Mr. Boot points out that the foreign ministers of Poland, France, and Germany, all of whom are in Kiev, all signed the agreement. The Russian delegate refused to sign it.

The article reminds of the risk the protestors will take if they refuse to sign the agreement:

Yet, many protesters in the streets are not prepared to accept what is largely a victory. Many of them refuse to disperse from Independence Square until Yanukovych resigns. Their position is understandable but misguided. As Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski reportedly told demonstrators: “If you don’t support this [deal] you’ll have martial law, you’ll have the army. You will all be dead.”

Sikorski should know what he is talking about, having spent a good part of his life as a refugee from Poland, which saw the imposition of martial law in 1981.

If the people in the streets of Kiev are willing to accept the agreement, they will avoid an all-out war and the imposition of martial law. I believe that if they sign this agreement, the countries whose delegates also signed it will make sure that the current leadership of the Ukraine and the Russians abide by the agreement.

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