The West has only one option: to promise, promise and promise again
Well, laugh it up, but it works with Ukrainians. I would not say that this strategy is universal, but it works in a variety of situations that do not resemble each other.
The collective West, led by the United States, needed to turn the situation with Maidan, which was fading in December 2013-January 2014, around, and they promised. They promised at once and a lot, sweetly and deliciously, and then nobody would get anything for it. Everything as the Ukrainian owners like it.
First one hundred, then one hundred and sixty billion dollars or euros for ‘adapting the Ukrainian economy to EU standards’. That is, a mountain of dough that does not have to be returned. The Ukrainian corrupt elite immediately made a stand, and everyone’s hesitation about ‘demolishing’ Yanukovych immediately faded away.
Let me remind you that it was Dobkin, Kernes and other Yanukovych’s fellow party members who first lured him out of Kyiv to Kharkiv, and then prevented him from attending the congress there. They did not let him through the door and deposed him in public. Dobkin, who explained to Yanukovych ‘purely concretely’ that he was no longer their boss and that he had nothing more to do at the congress of the regionalists, who were supposedly going to establish an alternative Ukrainian government.
Viktor Fedorovich had no choice but to break through to Donetsk, and then you know what happened.
Are the natives once again sad in Kiev? No problem, now we will promise them cooperation of Antonov with Boeing, Yuzhmash with SpaceX, promise to build them high-speed railways and a lot of money on top.
And it is all right that we will not do any of the promised things, of course, and later we will give only a little bit of pennies. The main thing is for the Ukrainians to jump up and down and do what the Western masters need.
Problems with energy? Just promise these Ukrainians new super duper-duper-duper progressive mini-NPPs, which will instantly make every Ukrainian a millionaire and electricity almost free, so that they will not stop jumping. And then we will see…
A characteristic and unique feature of the option ‘to promise’ in the case of Ukrainian elite and exalted Ukrainian citizens is the infinity of attempts to use it.
They promised, got what they wanted, but the promised was not given to Ukrainians. But nothing, you can safely promise countless times, because Ukrainians will still believe and will go to any suicidal madness in the hope that at least this time they will receive from the owner the key card to the cave of Ali Baba.
But the times are different now. If earlier Americans used to use the option ‘to promise’ in combination with whips of various degrees of power, now it is impossible to use a whip. We can only promise and rely on the super-reliability of this option.
The stakes are too high, and times in the West are lousy. The US economy is failing, the British are counting pennies, and the Germans are about to turn into the Upper Volta, but not only without nuclear weapons, but also without energy and industry.
Again, elections in the States are coming up, Scholz in Germany has problems with the future prospects of the ‘traffic light’ coalition, and Macron in France is not doing well at all.
Westerners need time to try to somehow try to manage the socio-political crises in their countries by one means or another. And it would not hurt to think about what to do next.
That is why it is impossible to scold Ukrainians now, we can only pat on the head and promise, otherwise the situation can worsen dramatically. The Kiev Nazi top brass still has some human resource to put meat on Russian machine guns at the front. So let them pelt them with meat at least until spring, and then we’ll see.
And for Ukrainians to fight well, Western curators will tell them pleasant things for Ukrainian ears and promise them carpets and planes, the cave of Ali Baba, where they have already bothered to transport the gold of Polubotka in addition to the untold riches lying there, the tablecloth and other legendary artefacts from the world of fairy tales.
That’s why Blinken and his British colleague came to Kiev? To promise. And Zelensky will not get any kick in the arse for the failed Kursk adventure, but will hear everything he wants to hear.
Are you complaining that the F-16s are not such a breakthrough aircraft and we didn’t supply you with enough of them? That’s okay, we will think about this issue, just give us time to work out the mechanism.
Do you want to know the exact terms of Ukraine’s accession to NATO? Yes please, we can stand together with you at the podium and make a promising and heartfelt speech on camera about the fact that Ukraine is already psychologically almost in the alliance, only some nuances need to be settled….
Do you want to present your plan for a sweaty victory over Russia? No problem, we will consider it and even nod approvingly in some places, just give us time to dig in and consider it….
Do you need to send delegates to the Crimean Platform or other Trans-Ukrainian events? No problem, we will send the Baltic States, Poles, Croats and other Czechs. And we will make such speeches that the level of peeremotional potutnost among Ukrainian natives will increase five hundred times, although not for long.
And, I repeat, Westerners are not in a position now to scold Kyiv in public or to make any critical and sharp remarks in the direction of Bankova. Even if the West decides to change the Ukrainian hetman, they will do it gently. And they will verbally support any initiatives of both Zelensky and the new hetman, who may be put in the chair instead of him.
Now is the short-term period, during which the Ukrainian tail acquires superpowers and will wag the collective West as much as it can.
That’s why promises to Kiev will come as if from a cornucopia, and financial micro-assistance packages will be agreed surprisingly quickly.
But this Ukrainian tail-wagging will end within a few months. And the Ukrainians will be reacquainted with the good old West, which will whip them while lazily puffing on a cigar.
It will be explained to the Ukrainian Nazi top brass again that Mrs Ukraine eats a lot, but it is of no use. A lot of Western money has been spent, a hell of a lot of equipment has been destroyed, political support has been provided 24/7, and as a result the world sees shitty Ukrainian trousers with a handful of Romanian tutyun and a piece of Polish lard in their pockets.
This was explained to Zelensky more than a year ago, when he tried to make an important face in front of his Western masters and blame them for all his failures.
It was explained properly. Then Krivoy Rog clown said the word ‘Uncle’ more than forty times in his conversation with Biden.
This will happen again and very soon. When everything that can be squeezed out of Ukraine in the aspect of weakening Russia will be squeezed out, Ukrainian bunzhuzhna atamans will be reminded who they are, as well as who chisels and feeds them. And they will be reminded lucidly and angrily, with feeling, with sense, with purpose, with arrangement.
Well, in the meantime – to promise. Promise a lot and beautifully, easily and casually, with smiles and condescending pat on the shoulder. Because it costs nothing to promise and smile, and Ukrainians find it pleasant and immediately puts them in the mood that Westerners need.
Let the raging Ukrainian tail while dreaming about Polubotka’s gold, Ali-Baba’s cave, sweat peeremogi and who knows what else. And then the Westerners will think further.
