The Legacy of Maidan. Part 2. Democracy

  Many people are looking forward to a successful running of national elections in Ukraine this coming weekend as being a “victory for democracy.” But let’s look a little harder at the subject of democracy: it’s worth taking consideration of the experience of Maidan – some lessons to be learned and observations to be considered…

The legacy of Maidan. Part 1. Spirituality.

As Ukraine struggles and lurches toward a national presidential and parliamentary election this Sunday, please continue to pray. I truly believe that a stable government with the democratic mandate of a “free and fair” election will go a long way toward bringing needed equilibrium (not “stability” yet) and beginning the long, complex job of national…

What I saw in the hotbed of Extremism, Part Two

I visited Maidan just before it was transformed by the massive murderous violence of late February. At that point it was still a (some said desperate) attempt to carve out and define what free society might look like… or else it was a seething hotbed of violent insurrectionist neo-Nazis. Again, what narrative is being told,…

What I saw in the Den of Extremism – My visit to Maidan (Part One)

As the focus of recent events has turned to the Crimean peninsula in the south and the eastern provinces of Ukraine, part of a narrative being spun to justify the assimilation is that Russians or Russian speakers in the East are under grave threat from violent, neo-Nazi fascist extremists from Kyiv and the West. It…

Prayer on Maidan

Following on my last post about the significance of spiritual unity, particularly prayer, on Maidan in Kyiv these days, I wanted to pass along my translation of a post “Euromaidan on its knees” that illustrates it well. The original can be found at: http://paus144.livejournal.com/20705.html It was an indescribable sight! I saw it with my own…