"Freedom"

"Freedom" was the rallying cry from hundreds of thousands of people in the Ukraine yesterday as a statue of Lenin was toppled in Kiev. The "March of a Million" across the Ukraine was a continuation of the people's denunciation of their government's reversal to join a European Union(EU) trade and political pact in favor of a Russian deal. The hundreds of thousands of protesters in Kiev have reaffirmed their aspirations to develop with the EU rather than with rustic Russia. One 26-year-old Ukrainian, who like the other demonstrators, braved freezing temperatures to show their discord with the government, uttered the sentiment of many of his fellows to Reuters: "I don't want to go back to what my parents lived under the Soviet Union...when I am old, I want to live like people in Europe. I want to live in a normal country." Such is the dilemma Ukrainians face. In an attempt to diffuse and solve the Ukrainian question, EU foreign chief, Catherine Ashton, will travel to Kiev later this week "to support a way out of the political crisis."

ELSEWHERE, IN THAILAND

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawalta has been forced to dissolve her government and to call new elections for February 2, 2014 following the resignations enmasse of the largest opposition party from the legislature on Sunday. For weeks now, there has been constant protest against the prime minister's government in Bangkok calling for her resignation. The protests started after the prime minister's party introduced legislation into Parliament that would have granted her brother amnesty - he having been convicted of corruption charges and having fled Thailand where he was prime minister until 2006 before he was toppled in a military coup. Some 150,000 protesters continue to demonstrate in and around Bangkok despite the dissolution of the government. They are now demanding that Yingluck leaves the country  to rid Thailand of her powerful family's influence. They also propose a non-elected "people's council" to replace the democratically elected government.