Hiding one's head

The Crimean War has afforded some iconic moments that have been seared into history.  The Charge of the Light Brigade as been immortalised, whereas the incomparably more successful charge of the Heavy Brigade has been consigned to a footnote in history.  Florence Nightingale is etched into the popular consciousness with International Nurses' Day celebrated on her birthday every year, even though she never set foot in Russia and never got further than Scutari in the then Ottoman Empire.  The war, not exclusively fought in the Crimea, was also responsible for several pieces of clothing coming to prominence.  The cardigan (after the eponymous Lord) was one.  The Balaclava, named after the besieged city on the outskirts of Sevastopol, was another, pioneered by the British to protect their heads from the biting cold.

How ironic it is that the dethroned Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, should last be spotted skulking around plotting his escape in Balaklava, which gave its name to the headgear of choice of those who ousted him.  Or rather contributed to ousting him.  For like Nero, he jumped before he was pushed.  Not just a brutal autocrat but a brutally ineffectual autocrat.  Not for him, the nerveless, unashamed butchery of that other Russian client, Bashar al-Assad.  Vladimir Putin relied on him to quash the protests - on 17th February, the Kremlin released a further tranche of its $15 billion subsidy and on 18th, Ukrainian interior ministry forces opened fire on unarmed protestors.  But Putin leaned on a broken reed and so has stumbled into humiliation.  Whether Yanukovych would be welcome in Russia is a great imponderable, if that should be his destination.  What is certain is that Ukraine is no longer an option where he can continue as even his party and strongholds have turned against him.