Digital Ukraine 300, Putinism -500

The scorecard keeps getting more and more lopsided. A few days ago, Russia, the EU, the US and Ukraine agreed to a peace deal calling for a cessation of violence in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has scrupulously avoided bloodshed. For their part, Putinism's goons beat up and jailed Vice reporter Simon Ostrovsky (later released, thank goodness), and then tortured and murdered a Horlivka councilman and a young Kiev student (also see this excellent LA Times article). To top it all off, a separatist or Spetznaz soldier blew up a Ukrainian helicopter and transport jet parked at the Kramatorsk airport.

I've said this before, but will say it again: by mid-April, the window for Putinism's Operation Gobble-Up-Ukraine-Like-Crimea has closed. Everything Putinism is doing -- and I mean literally everything -- is failing. This is true locally as well as geopolitically.

Every day, ordinary Ukrainians are becoming more organized, more persistent, and more determined to save their nation. After the above-mentioned murders, the authorities cleared out the separatist roadblocks around Sloviansk and blockaded the small town.

After the attack on the airfield, Ukraine's Antonov plane firm announced it was giving three refurbished planes to the army free of charge (Ukraine also has the capacity to produce its own tanks and combat helicopters, it should be noted). Independent media activists have now organized Ukraine's first English-language media channel, available here: http://un1.tv/ukraine

There is also a noticeable split observable in the local protest movements in Donetsk, wherein the citizens who were genuinely protesting against the long-standing indifference of the Kiev authorities to their plight (and they have every right to protest peacefully) have almost universally rejected separatism and violence, and are calling instead for regional reforms.

The less popular support Putinism's thugs have, the more extreme their tactics have become. Just hours ago, these thugs kidnapped eight members of the enlarged OSCE team charged with being impartial observers in eastern Ukraine, and are apparently holding them in a jail somewhere. According to the OSCE's twitter feed, the captives consist of 4 Germans, 1 Czech, 1 Danish, 1 Polish, and 1 Swedish citizen.

I really couldn't think of a better way to convince the citizens of Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland and Sweden -- all model democracies and core countries of the European Union -- that the siloviki are not serious about defusing the situation, and to impose heavy-duty sanctions on Russia's already ailing economy.