Ukraine’s corrupt and Putin-loving President Yanukovich finally announced his resignation. He also initiated a return to the 2004 Constitution which limited presidential power. The Constitution that was being used more recently is modeled after the Russian one, in the sense that it grants the president vast and almost unchecked powers. Historically, the Russian people are used to having an absolute monarchy. Ukrainians, however, had a functioning democracy back in the XVIIth century, so a president who has dictatorial powers bothers them.
This is important because the fall of this corrupt president was one of the main goals of Ukraine’s protesters. However, the goal of re-electing the parliament has not been reached yet.
Compared to the Russian White Ribbon protests in 2011-12, the Indignados movement in Spain, and Occupy Wall Street, Ukrainians actually achieved something. And this is a big deal.
However, what Ukrainians achieved – and once again, it’s more than all other Western protesters did – is quite limited. There isn’t really anybody vastly better than Yanukovich to run for president. The country is still located between the authoritarian Russia and the exploitative EU. People now won’t be killed in the streets, which is obviously great. But all of the larger issues remain.
Clarissa's Blog 
That is great. And I have to say as a comment to your other post and in agreement with another commentator from Germany that in European news (I read news from three countries) there is a lot about this conflict all the time.
Another good piece of news for Ukraine (although you don’t care about Olympics 🙂 is that a few minutes ago you just got your first gold medal (in biathlon relay) ahead of Russia. Congratulations!
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Yay! Now that we do have a medal, then Olympics are not that bad. 🙂 🙂
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Well, actually you have two: you got a bronze in women’s 7.5km biathlon sprint a few days ago and just now a gold in women’s 4x6km relay. 🙂
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Ah, well, in that case. . . long live Olympics! 🙂
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This is the first good news out of Ukraine in a long time. Let’s hope that things can stabilize a bit.
I’m not as sure as you are about the bad intentions of the EU (though their good intentions can certainly enough damage). And I’d add that the US does not exactly have warm squishy thoughts for Ukraine either beyong seeing it as a tool for shitting in Putin’s kasha.
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Well, Yanukovich has not resigned yet. He says that there will be presidential elections in December.
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Very glad for the good news, and wishing Ukraine all the luck with the ton of work that remains after the protests succeed.
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