Written by: Beck

First of all, via TulipGirl, Amy Hunt has created various pictures/buttons for display on websites for those who are interested in showing support for democracy in Ukraine:



The single most important bit of news is that the Ukrainian Supreme Court has declared an injunction against the (largely corrupt) Ukraine Election Commission's announcement of a winner from several days ago.

The other real development is that protests have spread across the country, have begun occupying/blocking/picketing government buildings, and have become more aggressive in certain instances. In one instance, protestors stormed the Chirnigiv city hall & were tear gassed for their troubles.

Le Sabot--who is working with on-site news people cranking out English translations--has further updates on events in and around Kiev. And has another post on "How and Why the Election was Stolen." A sample:

Now remember we talked about the massively powerful oligarch groups? Parties are how they translate their economic power into political control. On the simplest level, each clan forms its own party. Kiev clan has the Social-Democratic Party. Donetsk clan owns the powerful Party of the Regions. And so on.

If only it stopped there. With their money, they buy out smaller parties and use the remaining shell to attract votes. The Green Party suffered this fate, with the actual environmentalists moving on to two small rump parties (thankfully the Greens are back on the Reform side now.)

Even creepier, the oligarchs finance gen-tailored spoiler parties. For example, when facing a parliamentary election against Yulia Tymoschenko, they simply financed an on-paper women's party to siphon support from her.

So through these parties they take power. The Ukrainian clan system is basically a form of economic tribalism whereby the members bring home spoils for the tribe. So, for example, the Kuchma presidency has been very good for the 200-odd members of his clan. With Yanukovych rising in power, the spoils tilt increasingly his direction.

For up to the minute news as it develops, Maidan News remains an excellent source, as is the Kyiv Post. Also, CNN has a good overview.