Dhaka, Jan. 8 -- In fervour and style, the mob resembled the ragtag bands that seized control of the parliament building in Moscow in 1993 clamouring for the revival of the Soviet Union. Much the same scenes unfolded two decades later, as self-styled militias stormed the regional assembly in Donetsk, a major industrial city in eastern Ukraine and now the capital of a secessionist, pro-Russian "people's republic."

Ersatz military gear - shabby jackets, old boots, black wool hats and bandannas - were much in evidence back then, as were the flags of long-dead and, we all assumed, safely buried causes.

In Donetsk, these included not just the Red Flag of the defunct Soviet Union and the black-yellow-white tricolor of the long-gone czarist em...