Mary Mycio: Yanukovych may be living on borrowed time
Vigilantes hurl Molotov cocktails, bricks and other objects at Kyiv's riot-control police on Dec. 1, while hundreds of thousands of other Ukrainians protested peacefully on the same day in favor of closer integration with the European Union.
Since his election in 2010, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s power has rested on two pillars: public apathy and wealthy donors. The hundreds of thousands of protesters who packed the central squares of Kiev on Sunday are the most visible symbol of the dissatisfaction with the strongman’s rule. But Yanukovich may have lost that other constituency—Ukraine’s small class of oligarchs—as well. If that proves true, the Ukrainian leader’s government may be living on borrowed time.
