The tragic events in Odessa revealed something very unexpected. Odessa is the only Ukrainian city I know that I could call very Russian. Not pro-Russian, which is a ridiculous and meaningless term adored by spineless Western journalists, but actually Russian in its culture, its way of life, everything. I visited Odessa once and was shocked at how similar it was to St. Petersburg, not in terms of architecture, which is very different, but in the way people acted. My visit to Odessa was extremely unpleasant because it was painful to see so many low-cultured, rude, garish, horribly vulgar and mean people per square inch of territory.
But if even in this city, which is exceptional in Ukraine in the degree of its Rusianness, a crowd of soccer fans chose to come out into the streets and march under Ukrainian flags and dozens of people were willing to die for Ukraine, this means that, as the first line of our national anthem says, Ukraine is really not dead yet.
Clarissa's Blog 
What do you think about the following point of view?
http://mike67.livejournal.com/452482.html#comments
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This is very insightful! I agree with the linked post for the most part except the author’s vision that the current bout of live for fascism is permanent. I think it’s a fluke, a backlash against, yet again, a swift entrance into modernity. It will pass soon.
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Perhaps what Odessa and St Petersburg have in common is that they are port cities. Like Marseille, Naples, Liverpool, Plymouth, all of which share a certain roughness.
It is indeed remarkable that those young men, those football players, who are known the world over for being mild-mannered, peacefully marched through the city. It is not at all possible that a group of young men, fresh from a sporting event, and knowing there were “people of opposing political viewpoints” in the city went looking for trouble?
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Anything is possible but in this case there is no reason to guess when there are hundreds of reports from witnesses, with endless photos and video footage.
Can you satisfy my personal curiosity and share what motivates your sympathies towards Russia in this conflict?
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