Ukraine Stuff

So I just got back from a town hall meeting hosted by the U.S. Embassy. Heard some pretty interesting stuff there. Foremost was that there were apparently plans and people were moved into position to bust heads about nine days into the protests on Independence Square. The biggest thing that prevented heads from being busted was the fact that other government security organs let it be known that they would get in between the head-busters and the head-bustees.

As a bit of a follow on to this implicit protection, I found out that opposition members have been able to, ummmm, employ tactics against the government that the government had typically been able to employ against the opposition.

Also, in spite of Yanukovich's announcement yesterday that he still intended on running for president, he has 3 more days to withdraw his candidacy, which would turn the election into a plebiscite on Yushenko. Yushenko would then have to win 50% +1 of the vote in order to become president. It was the opinion of people in the know that, in spite of the massive turnout on the streets of Kiev, that he could quite conceivably have difficulty reaching that mark.