A number of protests have continued to spell out the 'stable crisis' in the Ukraine that now runs into 2014. Thousands of protestors flocked to celebrate the Western New Year: a date that marks their promotion of Western perspectives and a release from Orthodoxy (in its Greek or Marxist-Leninist variants). A subtext within the prevailing political protest against President Yanukovych.
While they waved their flags, fifteen thousand nationalists marched to commemorate the birthday of Stepan Bandera in 1907. Founder of the League of Ukrainian Nationalist, Bandera is a figure of some controversy, having allied with the Nazis twice during World War 2. A reminder that the history of Ukrainian nationalism is not strewn with liberal democrats. (A run of bad luck for the country as a borderland between two totalitarian visions of modernity).
Svoboda, the nationalist party, is linked with the protests and this march. A reminder that the people may fly EU flags and yearn for a more respectable country, where laws are followed and bribes are abnormal, yet all remains unclear. The Ukrainians are more nationalist, but are they yet liberal? And will their fellow Russians follow them west?