Quote Originally Posted by carl View Post
Yanukovych who stole how many millions, billions, was trying to spare the Ukrainian people the pain of closer integration with the West despite the wishes of rather a lot of Ukrainians. Yanukovych the humanitarian philanthropist. You learn something new every day.
You have a superficial reading of the situation and at no point did I say Yanukovych was a "humanitarian philanthropist". Quote me. At best, he was corrupt. At worst, a murderer. But that wouldn't make him any different from most of heads of state nor does it have any bearing on the fact of his democratic legitimacy, certified by an election, or the expression of the popular will of the Ukrainian population. Nor does it change the fact that sometime this month the new government in Kiev will approve the same IMF-imposed austerity measures that have failed in Greece, Portugal, and elsewhere and that Yanukovych, whatever his motivations, rejected.

There is sufficient economic data that demonstrates the failure of austerity as a growth policy. Austerity is not about growth. Austerity is about ensuring the gains of a small class of investors and financiers in a dying economy, whatever the costs to the general population. Austerity will not save Ukaine. Austerity has not saved any country. But that's not the goal of austerity. The same pain that has gripped Russia, Greece, Chile, and even Detroit will come to Ukraine. Capitalism is not about democracy. It's about profit. And austerity brings that distinction to the forefront.