A true revolution doesn't come every day. The word "revolution" appears all around us, in commercial advertisements and political propaganda, until it seems to have lost all meaning. The most minor tumult, the smallest change, and immediately we pronounce the word. And so when the real thing arrives, with tyranny and blood, with masses striving for freedom, with an ancient regime destroyed and a new one born, we might just fail to see its significance. The spark that began the revolution was something called Europe: a trade agreement with the European Union that many Ukrainians saw as a chance to enter a world of free trade rather than government syndicates, and the rule of law rather than overwhelming corruption. When President Viktor Yanukovych, after months of promised, rejected the deal in November, Ukrainians protested.
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Timothy Snyder: We're witnessing an extraordinary event, a revolution in Ukraine
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He says Ukraine's population did not run away from regime's violence, but stood firm
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Ukrainians don't want to accept a Russian-style regime in return for Russian money, he says
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Snyder: The West now must provide financial and other support for Ukraine's democracy
Although the Russian side promised that the loan was without conditions, @placeholder leaders then explained that disbursements could only follow when political stability had been established.