Ukraine is fascinating….especially after my post on my “Linch Pin” prediction……..wp.me/pclTd-6Oa
It appears that the Ukrainian opposition has won the day…..they protested, some pretty violent, and drove the sitting president from office and he is now on the run facing multiple arrest warrants for human rights violations, violence and murder……in essence the opposition rule the day……but now what?
Now I ask….who is the opposition? Keep in mind that we, America, supported blindly the opposition to Assad in Syria and look how that worked out……
It seems we have to have a good guy and a bad guy….unfortunately it is NOT that simple in international relations…..my worry is that some with their blind hatred and suspicion of Russia will get behind the wrong people in this situation.
What I am going on about? A good question that deserves a good answer…….let me use Sen. McCain as an example…I use him because he and his cohort sen. Graham have set themselves up as the spokesmen for the GOP on foreign affairs…from the past their track record is not all that good….they supported the opposition in Libya that turned out to be bad people with lots of weapons….then they supported the opposition in Syria and part of that opposition is Islamist that are aligned with AQ, not all but a sizable portion of the opposition.
Okay why do I doubt their logic…….McCain recently made a pilgrimage to Ukraine before the hostilities started and met with Oleh Tyahnybok a political leader of a party in the opposition to the now defunct government….I know so what? His party is Svoboda……
Svoboda (which means freedom in Ukrainian) is one of those reconstructed modern European far right parties — it is aligned with the British National Party and the French National Front, for example — and it has gained some kind of electoral legitimacy, winning 10 percent of the seats in Ukraine’s parliament in 2010.
However, the party’s past is seriously murky. When it was founded in 1995, the party called itself the Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU), and it had a swastika-like logo. While it eventually split from its more right wing members, the party remained focused on celebrating Ukrainian ethnic identity in opposition to Russia and Communism.
Man on McCain’s right is the person in question……..
He gave a speech in 2004…..
Tyahnybok himself was expelled from the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction in 2004 after giving a speech demanding that Ukrainians fight against a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia” (he later clarified this by saying that he actually had Jewish friends and was only against to “a group of Jewish oligarchs who control Ukraine and against Jewish-Bolsheviks [in the past]”). In 2005 he wrote open letters demanding Ukraine do more to halt “criminal activities” of “organized Jewry,” and, even now, Svoboda openly calls for Ukrainian citizens to have their ethnicity printed onto their passports.
This could have a major influence on the situation and the theater to come.
There is so much more to this story…..
One of the “Big Three” political parties behind the protests is the ultra-nationalist Svoboda, whose leader, Oleh Tyahnybok, has called for the liberation of his country from the “Muscovite-Jewish mafia.” After the 2010 conviction of the Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk for his supporting role in the death of nearly 30,000 people at the Sobibor camp, Tyahnybok rushed to Germany to declare him a hero who was “fighting for truth.” In the Ukrainian parliament, where Svoboda holds an unprecedented 37 seats, Tyahnybok’s deputy Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn is fond of quoting Joseph Goebbels – he has even founded a think tank originally called “the Joseph Goebbels Political Research Center.” According to Per Anders Rudling, a leading academic expert on European neo-fascism, the self-described “socialist nationalist” Mykhalchyshyn is the main link between Svoboda’s official wing and neo-Nazi militias like Right Sector.
Right Sector is a shadowy syndicate of self-described “autonomous nationalists” identified by their skinhead style of dress, ascetic lifestyle, and fascination with street violence. Armed with riot shields and clubs, the group’s cadres have manned the front lines of the Euromaidan battles this month, filling the air with their signature chant: “Ukraine above all!” In a recent Right Sector propaganda video [embedded at the bottom of this article], the group promised to fight “against degeneration and totalitarian liberalism, for traditional national morality and family values.” With Svoboda linked to a constellation of international neo-fascist parties through the Alliance of European National Movements, Right Sector is promising to lead its army of aimless, disillusioned young men on “a great European Reconquest.”
John McCain is looking for a black and white solution…..it will not be that easy…..he needs to pay attention or keep his mouth shut…….
Just look at the map of the ethnic divide in Ukraine and you will see the possibilities that could make the news in the near future……
What will be the next move for the US? Or the EU? Will we try to pacify or dictate? What roll will the IMF and World Bank play in this situation?
I understand that all those nice green combat helmets we see the protestors wearing were shipped to them by Mr McCain.
There is another question that needs considedring; What does Russia feel about all this. Now we may not like them very much, but they have a poinht of view. Should the Ukraine join the EU in some form or another, it won’t be long before Western military hardware and “advisors” start getting shipped into the country. Right on Russia’s boarder. The US wouldn’t stand for this in the slightest. Russia has part of her military infrastructure in the Crimea (whether one likes it or not – it’s the case) sothey have legitimate interests. There are other smaller states that could follow the Ukraine’s path, and at some point Russia will have to draw a “Red Line” which won’t be nice for anyone.
McCain is an idiot.
I agree. Their Black Sea Naval base is in the Ukraine. You can’t just go shitting in peoples backyards and not expect a response.
And Russia will do what is necessary to keep the warm water port…..good point
Could you imagine the US being pushed out of her Japanese bases?
Nope….we gave up Okinawa but the main bases….now way.
Bill, an excellent question…..one thing to keep in mind…back in the USSR days the Ukraine was called the bread basket of the Soviet Union……I think that is where Russia is coming from and they will do whatever necessary to keep them in an area of influence….well said.
I think those people who began the protest because former President Viktor F. Yanukovych decided to reject the EU’s proposal and side with Putin are going to regret their choice. The package deal the EU is offering them could wound up reducing the Ukraine to a status equal to Greece and Spain with their strong austerity measures. Time will tell.
Juan Cole made reference to this in a recent post here
“Both liberal and right wing youth in the west of Ukraine as well as in the southern capital of Kyiv (Kiev) were upset by the turn away from Europe. They hope for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union and entertain hopes that this step would improve their economic prospects. (Given the sad economic state of Spain, Greece and other EU members, including persistent unemployment of a quarter or more of the youth, this conviction is a little difficult to understand).”
The World Bank and IMF will demand lots of ‘austerity’ for their cooperation…..Juan Cole is a sharp cookie…I like him….chuq