Remember the Orange Revolution? When much of the country banned together in peaceful protest against a falsified election one by Victor Yannakovich?
Those paying attention and those of us living here have watched that promise of democracy slowly slide, but I for one didn't realize it was on a curve, and always had been. After all the petty political infighting and lack of progress that led to Yuchenko loosing his support and after dragging out negotiations for four months on achieving a coalition in parliment, something happened.
It came full circle.
You see, the presidency no longer matters. After changes enacted after the Orange Revolution, power now rests in the hands of the Prime Minister. Because of personality conflicts--mostly from Yuchenko refusing to have his Orange Party join forces with Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc because he did not want her becoming prime minister after having fired her from that post--nothing got done with the Western-leaning political parties, even though they all stood for the same thing. So after months of being with them, the Socialist party, a rather small one, switched sides. But it was enough for the Socialist party, now aligned with the Communist party and the Party of Regions--Yannokovich's party, to give the other side a majority.
This morning, Yannokovich was named Prime Minister.
Less than two years after the Orange Revolution, when Ukraine was heralded as a shining beacon of democracy in a region crawling out of the shadow of the former USSR, the Socialists and the Communists control the parliment and the power of the country will rest in the hands of the man the country banded together to oust.
One friend, who was a staunch supporter of the revolution, was asked if he'd march again on Maidan. "I was on Maidan last year," he said. "Look what happened."
I was here for the Orange Revolution. People felt like they could make a difference, had control. It was all people could talk about. Now, the biggest indicator of the national mood is that no one is talking about it. Everyone is apathetic. They can't change what's going on, best to just get on with their lives.
Full circle.