Thugs attack music lovers in Ukraine

A Kyiv Post article reports that some two dozen of Ukraine's neantherthals came out of their caves last night, taking baseball bats to a rock festival last night in Irpen, a town outside Kyiv.

These thugs injured several security guards severely enough that they required hospitalization. The neanderthal elements in charge of the state police have, of course, made no arrests. Which kind of makes one wonder just who instigated this attack.

It is heartbreaking to see Ukraine being dragged back into the dark ages. It is equally disgusting that no western government can seem to fathom the global implications, much less possesses sufficient balls to take a stand.

This includes our own Prime Minister who either doesn't know or (more likely) doesn't care enough about human rights and press freedom violations to do more than pose for a photo with Ukraine's current president. You'd think he could at least mention these violations in one of his statements of Canada's concerns.

When Ukrainian music lovers can't safely enjoy an outdoor music concert, and politicians accuse Ukrainian rock bands (of all people!) of "promoting fascism and xenophobia" it's a huge step back for democracy.

Here in the west, celebrities are (so far) free to criticize politicians and the government and call them to account. But Ukraine's current government prefers to live in a time warp. It appears that few politicians in the former soviet union are willing to allow this kind of freedom. Those who are willing to don't last long in office.

It's clear this current regime appears bound and determined to bring back the "glory days" of the old soviet union... when intimidation tactics and thuggery were the modus operandi of the state.

OTOH maybe it's not a step backwards. Seems like not much has really changed since the collapse of the iron curtain ... except to get worse. Ditto the indifference of western governments.

Read the article here.