Oh, my how quickly things change around here.  From a happy, smiling Vlad the Impaler (aka Putin) at the Sochi Olympics to the Yellow King* in just a few short weeks.  How did that happen, fer cryin’ out loud?  Well, frankly my dears, it really all started a long while ago.

*The Yellow King is a reference to the prime evil-doer on True Detective, set to wrap up Sunday night.

For the majority of what would consider Ukraine’s modern history, it has been an acknowledged part of Russia.  It became an independent country in 1991 with the breakup of the old Soviet Union.  Since then it’s been anything but calm, economically and politically.  The so-called Orange Revolution in 2005 started to destabilize the country, with two opposing groups fighting for control.  The west side, formerly a part of Poland, is mostly Catholic and speaks Ukrainian.  The east is populated by Russian-speaking transplants from mother Russia.  How’d they get there?  In WW II, Stalin was convinced that the Tatars that were living in the east part of Ukraine had collaborated with the Nazis.  So when he retook the land, he forcibly removed the Tatars, giving their land and belongings to Russians.  Not a recipe for stability, eh?

So recent troubles started when Ukraine applied for associate membership in the European Union.  Kissinger blames the EU for starting the troubles by “taking a dilatory approach” to Ukraine’s application.  The EU put two conditions on membership:  free the opposition party members from jail, and implement austerity measures.  These two conditions made the duly elected president Viktor Yanukovich decide to see if he could get a better deal elsewhere.  Enter Vlad the Impaler with a sweet deal of money and subsidized natural gas.  Score!  Hold it Viktor, not so fast.  Before you could say Jack Robinson, protestors were demanding his resignation, he fled the country, but not before having his troops shoot about a hundred of those protestors, mainly from the west.  Ouch.  So Putin, putting on the happy face at the Olympics, waits until after the closing ceremony, and then sends in troops to the eastern portion of the country.  Clearly a violation of international law.  But in typical Putin fashion, he advances, then stops and waits to see what the reaction will be.  Then he advances a bit more.  But so far there’s been nothing other than rhetoric and threats in response to his provocative action.