Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko. Wikipedia
Nicolai N. Petro & Josh Cohen, National Interest: Ukraine's Government Is Failing to Unite Ukrainians
The current course of denigrating those deemed insufficiently Ukrainian will only lead to a fracturing of the country.
Last month Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko dramatically expanded his country’s sanctions against Russia by imposing multiyear sanctions on a number of IT companies. Once they are fully implemented these sanctions will impact some twenty-five million Ukrainians, or nearly every Ukrainian internet user.
These were but the latest in a litany of sanctions that began in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea. First, restrictions were imposed on Russian television news programs, then artists, films and, most recently, books published in Russia. Most recently, Ukraine passed a law requiring 75 percent of television content to be in the Ukrainian language—leading one Western journalist to accuse Poroshenko of appearing to “equate being Ukrainian with speaking Ukrainian.”
Critics say the government is trying to create a virtual wall around Ukraine, in a futile attempt to keep out all Russian influence. They worry that once this is accomplished, Kiev will seeks to impose a nationalist agenda on the country by attacking as disloyal the cultural affinity that most eastern Ukrainians feel for Russia.
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WNU Editor: Currently .... President Poroshenko is polling in the teens. These new measures are going to guarantee his poll numbers going into the single digits. The next Ukraine Presidential election is slated in March, 2019 .... and everyone I know in Ukraine are just waiting for that day. In the meantime .... the anger that is building up in the territories in the east and in the south east .... and in major cities like Kharkiv where my aunt and her family lives .... I am genuinely worry that Ukraine may soon be entering into a wider conflict beyond Luhansk and Donetsk.
13 comments:
The DPR and the LPR have the strength to resist, but not really, to attack.
The Ukrainian Army, even with the backing of the Neo Militia's, is to weak to attack.
The Ukrainian Nationalists are probably going to lose badly in the next elections, the question will be what the Ultra's do?
Jay. I was referring to regions outside of the DPR and LPR. I know in Kharkiv there is a heavy military and secret police presence to keep the locals quiet. I can only imagine what it is like in the countryside. All sides in Ukraine are completely fed up with this war and they want a solution. But .... like clockwork .... the central government then does something that just gets everyone upset.
Between now and the elections, nothing much will change.
After the elections, when the Nationalists split, and more "neutralist" parties take the small majority, what will the "Ultra's" do?
Will they accept the results of the election?
Will they launch an Ultra's only, violent Maiden?
Or will they try to use Azov and the other militia's to seize power?
Jay
If they (groups like Azov) keep their weapons .... I see big trouble.
Fortunately .... a lot of people in Ukraine are fed up with these people .... and they want things to be like before (no civil war). They are the clear (and massive) majority right now, and if someone runs on a platform that pushes peace and co-existence with the eastern regions .... he or she would probably win. That person will then have to deal with these Ultra groups which will be nasty. But how will that turn out .... I sincerely do not know.
The Platform might be popular,
But the Party would have an uphill fight against the Ogliarches, the Corruption, the Media, and the various external actors who invested a lot of time and money ensuring Maiden won.
During the election, the Ultra's would be the least of the Party's problem.
And then too, what will Russia do.
If they stay out, they could see an end to the issue, for a while,
If they "pitch in" they could break the Ukraine beyond all repair.
The nazi are a problem, and for certain they are going to intimidate pacifist candidates, but latest sanctions and restrictions comes from an plutocratic government. So real the question is what type of game those rich's, many of them foreigners, are trying to play.
Jay,
You are right about Russia.
If they really really really want to mess up everything .... it would be so easy .... and they will not have to even use their own people.
In the elections, the only " help" Russia can give to a neutralist party, is to stay "out" and do nothing, don't even mention the Ukraine.
A nutralist win will produce a possibility, that Ukraine could reform, and a long way down the road, repair relations with the DPR, the LPR, Crimea and Russia, as Margasheylavisii has been doing in Georgia since 2013, but Georgia's not getting South Osettia back, ever.
However, given the Ukraine's problems, a neutralist win could just result in a brief honeymoon before the Nationalists are back.
Interfereing in the election however, would cause the divides in the Ukraine to become beyond repair, leaving the Ukraine divided and ungovernable forever, removing permenently the "threat" for Russia.
What Russia does in the election will be quite interesting.
On this we are in complete agreement.
:)
If Russia "burns down" the Ukrainian house,
Then an "issues" based position on Russia will become "untenable" in the West, with anyone who believes in Democracy, similar to how post war Stalinism destroyed Communism in the West.
As I stated at the time, when the US chose to involve itself on the side of the Kiev government of so called "western Ukraine," this was the dumbest decision ever made by a major world power. Events may well have proven me right.
We need to extricate ourselves from this asap. At the very least a postion more in line with the Russian one would be in order. For example, announce that Ukraine will NEVER be a part of NATO as long as the US is and announce that we diametically oppose Ukraine's admission into the EU and then act in a manner consistent with what we say. Also, formally recognizing Crimea as Russian would be extremely helpful with no downside.
The US and the EU have been spending money on the "regime change" project in the Ukraine since at least 2001.
It was a Bush 43 project by the do called "Adults" like Cheney and Rumsfield.
Once Trump's brought up to speed on the project, he'll kick it into high gear.
It's amusing to hear Bolsheviks and other assorted enemies of liberty talk nonsense.All glory to Right Sector,kill the communists,kill them all!
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