**Most of what I have observed is driven, I suspect, by the fact that so much of the good that happened on Maidan has been lost to the diabolical spin of Russian propagandists. ** Accusations from armchair pundits safe in their British or American living rooms, suggesting that the removal of Yanukovych from power was an illegal coup d’état, and therefore warrants the withdrawal of Western support, amount to nothing more than a betrayal of everything good that was fought for over the course of both twentieth century world wars. As it stands, though, what has happened to cause this is easy enough to identify. In the face of their exposure as the real power behind the presidential thug, Yanukovych, Russia has held a magnifying glass up to the small number on Maidan who might have identified themselves with the far-right, and used them as the basis for describing all protesters as neo-Nazis and Banderists. Knowing how inflammatory this would be in Ukraine itself, and the degree to which Western liberals would flinch at any suggestion of association with the far-right, Putin could proceed with his designs on the Crimea with the confidence of having at least muddied the waters of decision for Western leaders, and so peremptorily softened their resolve.
