Quote Originally Posted by zako85 View Post
It is almost certain that the rioters in the eastern Ukraine are being organized and funded by some kind of powerful force, Russia probably. The Russian state is probably using its propaganda machine and agents to skillfully create an anti-west Ukrainian hysteria in the eastern provinces. However, I would stop short of saying that those protesters are Russian citizens. On Russian news, the journalists a few times asked people in the crowd where they're from, and they showed Ukrainian passports. A lot of them said they were pissed off to be accused to be from abroad.

It's hard to see where is the truth. It could be that people in the crowd were given fake passports, though I doubt this theory right now. In east Ukraine, there are plenty of genuinely pro-Russian people, they may be the majority or large minority, and they have enough reasons to be pissed off because their president was ousted from power a few weeks ago by a bunch of unlawful protesters in Kiev, many of whom happened to be well-prepared, well-trained, and organized rioters with links to Ukraine's "Right Sector" organization as well as sponsors from abroad.
Masses are easy to be manipulated. It's enough to infiltrate a few stirrers in the crowd. I lived such experiences in 1990 when the country was divided into two camps. Living in the central area I had to attend ( involuntarly of course ) a lot of meetings and riots and was amazed by how people could act. Before that I was sure such things can't happen in my city and to my people.