This war is lasting far longer than Vladimir Putin probably expected. Even if he won, then Russia would face resistance in, and in the name of, Ukraine forever. But what if he lost?
As the largest country entirely in Europe, and being more populous than any of its neighbours apart from Russia, Ukraine seeks a global role that befits a nation of more than 40 million, strategically located, abundant in natural resources, the heir of the Kievan Rus' and of the Kingdom of Ruthenia, and the homeland, one way or another, of much of the Soviet elite.
Khrushchev came of age there, and he continued to identify with it so strongly that he gave it Crimea as a drunken birthday present to himself. Brezhnev was Ukrainian without complication. Chernenko's name was immediately recognisable as Ukrainian, for such was his father. Gorbachev's mother was an ethnic Ukrainian. And so on.
Populous and industrialised, it was hardly surprising that a land of coal and steel should have provided so many leading figures in the Communist Party, in an order than ended only one generation ago. Ukraine is used to being a big deal, and it intends to be a big deal again.
As a possible sign of what form that might take, there are reports that Latin Americans are being prevented from leaving Ukraine, in an attempt to coerce them into joining the Army. Perhaps the Bandera Boys are trying to fill the gap in neo-Eurasianism, which like many geopolitical theories has never known what to make of Latin America. Where does it fit in? "If Dugin and Putin don't know for certain that they want you, then we'll have you," seems to be the idea.
After all, Latin America was accommodating enough to old Nazis after the War, so why should today's Nazis expect anything but sympathy from Latin Americans? I am not agreeing with them. I am just suggesting that that might be what they were thinking. There is no good side in this as in most wars. Unfortunately, we are going to have to deal with whichever bad side won. But we must not take either against the other.
Very perceptive.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteTodays Nazis? Ukraine’s President is a Jew, you fool.
ReplyDeleteA perfectly normal alliance the world over throughout this century. Swastikas and Israeli flags fly alongside each other at rallies on every Continent these days.
DeleteAnd no one would be President of Ukraine if Svoboda, Pravy Sektor and the Azov Battalion had decided to get rid of him. Zelensky has defended Roman Zozulya. Well, of course he has.