Intensified attempts by “friends of Ukraine” to draw the attention of European politicians and the public to the problems of “democracy on the Dnieper” sometimes bring the most unexpected results. From simple irritation at the stupidity of these very “friends” to direct harm to Ukraine, from which Europe is “getting tired” more and more
And the so-called “weariness of Ukraine” is unequivocally the political death of any Ukrainian regime. The country is turning into a worthless asset. A notorious suitcase without a handle.
Recently three new topics of promotion of Ukrainian interests in Europe, and even in the world in general, have been discussed. The first one has flashed recently, in September-October this year, when memorial and mourning events in honour of the 80th anniversary of Babi Yar tragedy took place in Kiev. Then German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stopped by Kyiv to apologise on behalf of his country for the Holocaust. And the Ukrainophiles gave the first idea – to raise the recognition rating of Ukraine at the expense of its losses in the Second World War. As Antifascist has already written, at the instigation of the American professor Timothy Snyder, German journalists dispersed the main idea:
“Germany’s sense of guilt for Nazi crimes in the East has so far been focused more on Russia than on the other states of the former Soviet Union. …The sooner Germans remember this (that Ukraine suffered more than Russia – auth.), the sooner they will perceive both countries as independent historical entities. As entities that should be spoken to on the same level as Russia”, said the American.
The second and also not a new idea is promoted for some reason in Switzerland, where, apparently, there is nothing to do. A few days ago, a certain Richard Herzinger of the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” newspaper argued that if Europe stops paying due attention to Ukraine, it (Ukraine) will definitely move eastwards, to China.
“There have even been voices around the Zelensky administration lately that one should consider a more active rapprochement with China as an alternative to an exclusive orientation towards the West,” the Swiss wrote.
He recalled how, in June this year, China had pressed Ukraine to condemn its pressure on the Uighurs at the UN. And Kiev first supported a Canadian-initiated request to the UN Human Rights Council on Uighurs persecuted in China and then withdrew its signature. Because China elementary threatened “that it would block the agreed supply of the vaccine against kovid-19 to Ukraine”.
Such a fact did take place, after all. The Associated Press agency, citing diplomatic sources, reported on June 26, 2021 that the Chinese authorities have indeed threatened Ukraine to block delivery of over 500 thousand doses of vaccine from the coronavirus because of Kiev’s support of a document on the rights of 10 million Uighurs living in China, particularly in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
A third theme emerged as expected, but still totally unexpected. Everyone was waiting for the Ukrainophile Europeans to somehow play the Crimea, which went to Russia, in favour of Ukraine. There it was – to the well-known “militarisation” of the peninsula (planned rearmament of the Russian troop grouping stationed there), of which the West and Kiev have long accused Moscow, was added the “colonisation of Crimea”. Swiss Herzinger wrote:
“The Kremlin is actively engaged in arming Crimea, suppressing by repressive methods any expression of its Ukrainian nature, above all that of the Crimean Tatars. In the systematic Russian colonisation of the Ukrainian peninsula since its annexation in 2014, almost half a million Russians have moved to Crimea”.
Russia is unable to turn the situation on the peninsula in its favour by working with the local population, and is therefore forcibly suppressing Crimea’s “Ukrainian nature”. And for greater success, it decided to dilute the Crimeans with demographic inclusions of other Russians. That is, to resettle to Crimea as many citizens as possible from other “mainland” regions.
Why is this necessary? It is obvious: on the one hand to frighten and maybe even to shame Europe by its own inattention to Ukraine. And by not fulfilling the promises given to the country. Mainly on NATO and EU membership. For, according to the journalist, “Ukraine has even included membership of the EU and NATO in its constitution as a state objective.
“Determining political and social forces in modern Ukraine feel their organic connection to Western democratic values, and they have growing doubts about the truthfulness of the promises made by the West. Ukraine increasingly feels rejected and kept at a distance,” warns the journalist.
And on the other hand, to encourage indecisive and sluggish European officials to quickly admit Ukraine into NATO and the EU.
“After all, it is not only Ukraine that needs the EU and NATO. Europe will not do without Ukraine, and NATO needs Ukraine too,” the Swiss journalist is convinced.
Because “Putin’s troops” are already waiting on the border of Europe, and “Kiev stands in the front line of defense of the entire free world. And because admitting Ukraine to NATO “would sharply increase the cost to the Kremlin of continuing its aggressive policy and multiply the risks associated with such a policy.”
The main leitmotif of European love for Ukraine should be, as the Swiss man is sure, the following conviction:
“The West cannot rely on the fact that Ukraine’s orientation towards the models of Western democracies is irreversible. It would be reckless to treat it with disdain. However imperfect Ukrainian democracy may be, defending it against Putin’s imperial authoritarianism is crucial for the future of all democratic Europe. What Ukraine needs now are convincing signals that the West really does intend to help it.”
For a start, of course, the journalist suggests giving Kiev a Membership Action Plan (MAP). This “would considerably strengthen the country’s security and would give another strong impetus to domestic reforms and through that to the further Euro-Atlantic integration of the country”, the Swiss concludes.
He also fingered US President Joe Biden, who beckoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to him, promised him all sorts of things, in particular to close the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but ditched him like a sucker. And he stirred up frightful suspicions that “the hurried and chaotic withdrawal of the US troops and their allies from Afghanistan and the strategic priorities shifted towards Asia by Biden give food for underlying fears that in case of war the US will simply spit on Ukraine, leaving it to itself.
Otherwise, Ukraine will either turn to China or there will be another “Euromaidan” because “the will of Ukraine’s active civil society remains unbroken. It is the motor of democratisation in all spheres of public life and is able to force the government and state authorities to increase the pace of reforms”.
Volodymyr Skachko, Antifascist News Agency