Mikhail Palinchak / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / Reuters
Brian Whitmore, The Atlantic: Is This the End of Ukraine’s Peace Process?
Having failed to achieve its objectives in Ukraine through negotiations, Russia is turning to other means.
Mykola Azarov’s call for early elections and “total regime change” in Kiev was a bit of a head-scratcher. The ousted Ukrainian prime minister, after all, is deeply unpopular in his homeland and—with the exception of Ukrainian prosecutors who want to put him on trial—largely forgotten.
But in a high-profile press conference in Moscow on August 3 that was carried live on Russian state television, Azarov announced the creation of a Ukraine Salvation Committee that aims to oust the pro-Western government of President Petro Poroshenko.
WNU Editor: Them only part of this commentary that is accurate is the following ....
.... At the heart of Moscow’s problem is that it doesn’t want these territories. It doesn’t want to govern them. It doesn’t want to shoulder the cost of rebuilding them.
As for the rest of this commentary .... it illustrates the common mistake on how the West perceives the Ukraine crisis .... that Moscow is behind much of the chaos. Sighhh .... if it was that simple. The people in the Donbas region have a 1,000 year history of being Russian .... and being very independent. The first labour disputes and strikes that started in the Soviet Union that eventually led to its fracturing first started in the Donbass region ... and all the KGB thugs and threats could not stop them. That is why the argument that tough economic times will make the people in this region succumb to Kiev's demands in ending this conflict is a bit of stretch .... this region knows what tough economic times means .... and they do not care how long this conflict will last. This war has alienated a third of the country ... it is now deeply split along language and cultural lines .... and what is worrisome to me is that both sides are now no longer interested in negotiating and/or compromising. Brian Whitmore believes that time will favour Kiev in the long run .... but on this point I strongly disagree. Ukrainian President Poroshenko is now deeply unpopular, and if an election was held today I would be surprised if he gets 20% of the vote. Politically .... Ukraine's nationalist parties are now making a play ... .and while I doubt that they will succeed (for now), they are looking at the long term .... and who knows what will be the situation a year from now. But the real panic in Ukraine is over the economy. The economy has collapsed. The currency is now at a fraction of what it was worth 2 years ago, unemployment continues to rise, and government services have been cut to the bare minimal. The security situation is also making everyone nervous. There is a heavy police/secret police/and military presence in many cities .... doubly so in the east. And in the conflict zone .... IEDs, snipers, and hit and run incidents are causing anger and resentment among many within the army .... an army that is increasingly being made of conscripts.
2 comments:
Dude, in general I like your blog alot, but you sound like a paid Putin stooge when it comes to the fighting in the Ukraine. I am assuming you maybe Russian or have a Russian background and that's fine but while you make good honest comments about other conflicts, the lone exception to that is the Fighting in the Donbass. Your comments on this article are bizarre and strange to say the least. Ukraine has its problems but they pale in comparison to Russia and their unfettered aggression to their neighbors. I know we will disagree on this but wanted to comment on it. Other than that I enjoy your blog, Thank you.
It is OK Stephen to disagree. I more than anyone else wants the conflict in Ukraine to end .... I have family and friends who live there (not in Donbas but in the Kiev to Odessa corridor), I have lived there for a while, there was a time that I wanted to live there, and I warned last year about what was going to happen before the war exploded. As I said .... the problem is that much of our media/political class is focused on this war through the prism of an East - West conflict, while the conflict is primarily a Ukrainian - Russian Ukrainian disagreement that goes back centuries. And what should have been an internal dispute solved by compromise and talks .... has become a situation that unfortunately everyone is now involved in .... Russia, NATO, the U.S. .... and they are not helping the situation by now making any possible resolution impossible to be reached. But what is complicating the situation (as well as making it more dangerous) is the deep unpopularity of the Ukraine government within Ukraine .... even U.S. pollsters noticed this in June http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.ca/2015/06/polls-ukrainian-public-dissatisfied.html and since then I have noticed that U.S. and European leaders are backtracking on their support for Poroshenko. The economy is what caused the Maiden revolution last year, and another revolution would be the result if this is not solved. But in that revolution .... if Ukrainian nationalists do take over the Presidency .... the nightmare that will then unfold will make the current war pale in comparison.
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