Lenin is Down in Kiev. Ukrainians Topple and Decapitate Lenin Statue

Just after 6 pm Kiev time today, cheering, "Revolution!" shouting, pro-E.U. Ukrainian citizens pulled down the statue of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin in Bessarabskaya Square.  Watch the videos of this remarkable chapter in the Ukrainian struggle to choose their destiny, here:

Yanukovych's way out

I agree with Kyiv Post's chief editor, Brian Bonner.  Were Yanukovych to do what he proposes, it would be a watershed event that would have very positive repercussions worldwide, and a healing and regenerative effect in the Russian speaking world. 

This is that time when human beings all over the planet are learning from each other on a massive scale; when higher consciousness and hearts are opening right before our astonished eyes, revealing the steps the human collective needs to take next.  Both crisis and chaos are opportunities for further advancement.   ~Madison Reed

© AFP.  Ukrainian citizen talks to police after the Nov. 30 brutal crackdown on demonstrators at Independence Square.

by Brian Bonner

President Viktor Yanukovych still may have a way out.

If I were him, and I am glad that I am not, I would hightail it to Brussels, plead for forgiveness and put the association agreement agenda he spurned in Vilnius before parliament right away.

I think that’s his only way at the moment. He has, belatedly, seemed to recognize as much when he talked on Dec. 2 about going to back to the European Union and trying to restart negotiations for an association agreement.

It may not be enough.

He can continue to tough it out and hope the protesters will go away. They may or may not, but their anger with him will stay – right through the January 2015 presidential elections that are now right around the corner. Yanukovych knows he must win those elections or face the prospect of going to prison, like his defeated 2010 rival, ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

In this high-stakes game, the momentum seems to be with the people on the streets at the moment.

Yanukovych can crack down on the protesters, as police did on Nov. 30, but that will only bring him more isolation and more protesters on the street – as people demonstrated on Dec. 1. Opposition leader Arseniy Yatseniuk says every police crackdown will inspire more protesters, and he seems right. For the moment, it looks like Yanukovych doesn’t have the appetite for violence.

Force will only bring him international isolation and condemnation. Ukraine is not only not Russia, it is not Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan or any of the other former Soviet republis where dictators rule by fear and violence.

When hundreds of thousands of your citizens are willing to risk their physical safety to get rid of you, your political career is imperiled.

When they’re willing to do it day after dayour political career is on life support.

When they’re calling for you to serve a third term in prison, look out.

Yanukovych’s three most recent big blunders:  Brian's article continues here.

Get live updates of the EuroMaidan rallies from the KyivPost.