Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters
1,053 words
Translated by Greg Johnson
The events in the Ukraine have a single cause. The whole thing was triggered by the European Union’s proposal of a commercial and economic association as a prelude to Ukraine’s entry into the EU and NATO. The now fallen President Yanukovych accepted this proposal because of the financial situation of his country.
The Russians could only see this as a provocation, i.e., an attempt to move Ukraine from the Russian sphere of influence and align it with the EU-US duo. The Russians then made a counter-proposal of financial assistance to Ukraine. The Ukrainian government caved in and terminated the agreement with Europe in favor of the Kremlin proposal.
This was the beginning of the explosion, of the revolt led by Ukrainian nationalists, who are anti-Russian and “pro-European,” according to the journalistic vocabulary. After riots that killed about 150 people (much fewer than in the clashes in Northern Ireland),[1] what the Russians call a “coup” took place. The Ukrainian Parliament (Rada) returned and removed Vikor Yanukovych, who had been elected by universal suffrage, it is true, although this has never mattered much to the Kremlin.
Russia obviously exploited these events to regain control of the Crimea, ceded to the (purely symbolic) Soviet Republic of Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954 and mainly populated by Russian speakers. The geopolitical reality is most compelling, and Putin’s reaction is quite understandable — although he oversteps international law — since the Russian fleet is stationed in South Sebastopol. The Kremlin can not strategically allow Ukraine, which was the cradle of Russia and includes Russophiles and Russian speakers in the East and the South, to fall into the “Western camp,” which for Putin means the EU-NATO ensemble under American influence.
It is clear that Yanukovych was a satrap and an autocrat, but no more so than 60% of the leaders of the world. And his regime (and Russia’s) do not approach the despotism observed in China, Venezuela, and many countries in Asia, Africa, and the Muslim world, with which the “free world” — the smug defenders of the Rights of Man — maintain the best of relations.
The presentation of the Ukrainian affair by Western politicians and media (including the buffoon Bernard-Henri Lévy) as a struggle for democracy is completely wrong. It arises from geostrategic interests within a country divided between a pro-Russian and Russian-speaking East and an anti-Russian, pro-European population in the West. A tragic situation in the heart of Europe that should not have been exacerbated.
In this regard, the European Union has been irresponsibly provocative, kicking an anthill, by offering Ukraine eventual membership.[2] Likewise, the Ukrainian parliament, after the establishment of the new interim regime, voted to abolish Russian as an official language in a partly Russian-speaking country, which is hardly evidence of democracy. That delivered Putin a pretext on a silver platter. He has accused the new regime, which is illegal in his eyes, of nationalism and “fascism” and threatening the security of Russian speakers, who look to Russia for protection.
But worst of all is the impudent reaction of the U.S. government. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry (with whom are aligned the French Socialists who are now more Atlanticist than Chirac and the Sarkozyite Right) threatened Russia with economic sanctions and exclusion from the G8, accusing her of violating international law and the UN Charter in her military intrusion into a sovereign country. Kerry spoke of the “invasion and occupation of Ukraine.” He said: “In the 21st century, you should not behave like in the 19th century by invading another country.”
The Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, added to the provocation (what does NATO have to do with it anyway?), saying: “Russia’s actions in Ukraine violate the principles of the UN Charter. This threatens the peace and security in Europe. Russia must stop its military threats and activities.”
What incredible gall . . . The United States invaded Iraq under a false pretext without a UN mandate; they cheerfully violated the Charter, leaving a chaotic situation; and they presume to preach to Russia. The mind boggles. This nervousness is also explained by Russian slap in the West’s face over Syria.
An important point should be noted: unlike socialist France, which is aligned with Washington,[3] Germany’s Merkel has adopted a “Gaullist” position as the best interlocutor of Russia, the most likely to negotiate the crisis. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister, has rejected the U.S. proposal to exclude Russia from the G8, a realist position, unlike that of the Quai d’ Orsay, Foreign Office, and U.S. State Department.
We can draw only tentative conclusions, because the Ukrainian crisis is not over.
1. It is a pity that such a conflict broke out in Europe between Europeans of the same stock (i.e., Slavic cousins), while a non-European colonial invasion, as we know, is well underway. This is reminiscent of the civil war in Northern Ireland. We tear into one another while our real enemies are completely different.
2. Ukraine is probably not a viable country in the medium term. Its partition, with Russia annexing the East and South, is both politically obvious and an insurmountable problem for international law. It is a matter of the doctrine of nationalities at the foundation of international law. Ukraine will break up sooner or later. Morality always yields to facts. Cedat lex reibus.
3. The Ukrainian crisis will revive the Cold War against Russia, which is a terrible mistake.
4. So-called “pro-European” Ukrainians have no idea of what will happen if they join the European Union: uncontrollable immigration far worse than the imagined Russian menace, loss of border controls, and partial loss of sovereignty.
Notes
1. No serious investigation has determined who was responsible for the deaths, nor who were the snipers who killed protesters. The responsibility of the Yanukovych regime is not proven. The Western media have not identified the shooters.
2. The entry of Ukraine into the EU would be an economic headache. Dangling that possibility was part of a political maneuver that the Kremlin interpreted as a provocation.
3. Mr. Hollande was received like the king of the Moon by Obama in Washington (state visit) and was totally bamboozled. Flattered like a poodle, he wanted to improve his image but did not understand the script: put France on the road to Atlanticism just when Germany steps off and enters a major economic partnership with Russia.
Source: http://www.gfaye.com/ukraine-comprendre-la-position-russe/
15 comments
No, there no such thing as a “single cause”. It’s the Putin blackmail, it’s a tragic history of four hundreds years, and a huge pile of Ukrainian corpses. You can’t turn your head from that.
And you can’t play the naive saying that there is only the trigger and no powder keg. Or that the powder keg is a mere social construct.
It’s ridiculous to side with “Putin” or “Obama” or whatever. Side your own side! Stop catering for the jews from Moscow pretending to fight the jews in NY City and London.
Stop calling names against those who fight the fight. Like someone in another comment called the Ukrainians fighters “hooligans” in the most despicable bolshevik style. I am so fed up with this kind of justification you can’t imagine. It’s the fifth time I heard it in various contexts in my own country; only as an excuse instead of doing the right thing.
It’s neighboring the proverbial jewish chutzpah to call the old Afghanistan war veterans fighting for their country incompetent hooligans.
Do you want to know who killed in Kiev? I don’t know, but I know who killed Romanians in ’89 by the same methods. And they were KGBs, not the jews or the gray men on the orbit. Literary thousands of KGB agents were on the field in Romania, not to topple Ceusescu, but to hijack the popular revolt. Do you really thing that they were by any degree fewer on the streets of Kiev?
Ok, the jews are hijacking the Ukrainian revolt. This is what happened everywhere, including my own country.
This is because the nationalists have no international support. They are simply alone and eventually called incompetent hooligans. The nationalists back down because of fear to bring more misery to their own people.
Take a look where it says that Svoboda are the worst enemy of the jewish mafia and where Putin fights the Nazism. Is this the guy to liberate you?
http://www.timesofisrael.com/ukrainian-jews-split-on-support-for-russian-invasion/
Thank you Mr. Johnson for rational and dignified positions.
International law is not really an issue. The Russians have the right to move up to 25,000 troops in and out of the Crimea under the terms of a treaty with the Ukraine. I am convinced NATO is engaged in bluster on that front, there is nothing illegal going on. Putin also insists the men without insignia are local militia, which is actually quite feasible given Crimea’s population.
There will be a referendum on Crimea’s status in that region during the ides of March. Where have I heard about the ides of March before…? Et tu Ukraine? I have a saved photo on my hard drive of one of the Maidan riot shields with a Black Sun rune on it with the word “vikings.” The Maidan street fighters were indeed wannabe fascists and NATO can only hide the truth for so long.
I don’t know what scares me more, that NATO will align itself with fascists or that fascists will align themselves with NATO? It is repugnant and Russia is completely and totally justified. I am an objective person, but I am not a Hitlerist. The use of the Black Sun rune openly invokes the Waffen SS and constitutes a desperate attempt to provoke conflict given the circumstances.
This is far from over and I am confident NATO will be humiliated. Russia holds the whip and the moral high ground, all the west can do is try to polish a charred turd in the Maidan.
An excellent, eminently sensible analysis.
What is Faye talking about here? There is no “non-European colonial invasion”, but a well-planned policy of replacement forced by people who look exactly like me/ us. Faye’s perspective is misleading and totally wrong, because the real enemies are white elites striving for ultimate power and therefore with no connection to their own people.
I mean, the actual conflict isn’t really a conflict between two brother nations, but a well-planned provocation of Russia by warmongers sitting in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin. The evidence is out there in the internet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIQcZfx1BQ4), everybody can see what is happening here and what has been planned for a long time (destabilization and NATO-integration of the Ucraine). The new ucrainian regime (backed up by armed “Nationalists”) has already chosen the path of European Union. There is really nothing to misinterpret about this matter.
If the Ucrainians and even many white Nationalists here are so stupid to believe in the narrative of “Evil Putin”, (who is in my eyes just legally defending geo-strategic interest on Crimean peninsula and russian population), then white race is an inferior race. Very intelligent on the surface but not able to identify and eliminate treachery, even when it is this obvious.
My words may sound harsh and contrary to the CC-credo of jewish conspiration, but I’m really fed up with all the moaning and hypocrisy. I do know that the current malfunctions of white civilization are driven by materialist propaganda and wrong ontological premises, but this can be no excuse for a whole race living contradictious to nature and good sense (“gesunder Menschenverstand” in German).
“…then white race is an inferior race. Very intelligent on the surface but not able to identify and eliminate treachery, even when it is this obvious..”
I give you an A+ for that statement. Time for us to own up to the fact that different races have different forms of intelligence. We can subdue nature, building incredibly comfortable, “advanced” technological civilizations; explain the world scientifically; and create very pretty music, art and architecture (or at least we could at one time). Er…that’s it. That most important thing – which you pointed out – is apparently missing, or at least it has been lost.
Our enemies will tell us 99 facts that are true just to get us to believe the one lie that is crucial to them. And we apparently have fallen into this trap, for all our cleverness.
” king of the Moon”…….perfect description of the President of France.
“No serious investigation has determined who was responsible for the deaths, nor who were the snipers who killed protesters. The responsibility of the Yanukovych regime is not proven. The Western media have not identified the shooters.” (from notes above)
Ukraine Protests: Leaked EU Phone Call Suggests Kiev Snipers Were Hired by Opposition Coalition
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukraine-protests-leaked-eu-phone-call-suggests-kiev-snipers-were-hired-by-opposition-coalition-1439035
Yes, I have heard these stories too. There is obviously a lot of disinformation floating around, so reasonable people should be skeptical and not jump to conclusions.
There isn’t much to go on here. It reminds me of a notorious incident during the Bosnian War. Serbs launched a mortar attack on a Muslim market in Sarajevo which killed dozens and caused an international outcry. The Serbs, probably alarmed by the reaction, claimed that the Muslims attacked their own people in n attempt to garner sympathy. The story never passed the smell test but plenty of Serbs swallowed it whole. Ukrainian leaders ordering attacks on their own people would be a political bombshell, so it’s not surprising the Russian side would attempt to spread such rumors – even if they’re disregarded by the rest of the world, they might at least bolster resolve at home.
That story was based on a gross misunderstanding of the words of a doctor that treated wounded people in the Independence Square. The doctor already denounced this, saying “how can a doctor tell just from the wounds who were the snipers”.
What can say is that it bears a strange resemblance with the events in Bucharest, Romania December 1989, where we know that the snipers were KGB agents infiltrated as tourists in Romania. 80 000 tourists from USSR, much more than the usual average. Among them about 10 000 KGB/GRU agents that left Romania much later in 1990 and 1991!
And yes the wounds were similar, most of them in the head and neck. But this modus operandi is specific to the KGB school of “thought”.
Good article and comments. My contribution:
The U.S. should butt out. The U.S. has no vital interests in Eastern Europe, and Putin lacks the will and resources to build an empire or threaten the United States. Neoconservatives argue that America has a moral duty to protect Russia’s neighbors from alleged bullying and harassment. In other words, America should restart the Cold War so that some Baltic country gets a better deal on gas. It’s not enough for the U.S. to be the world’s policeman; it must be the world’s babysitter as well. “Play nice everyone!”
This policy is insane for two reasons: It places on excessive burden on American soldiers and taxpayers; and it encourages reckless diplomacy. Remember how the first Gulf War started? Iraq was broke after fighting Iran for eight years with help from the U.S. and Kuwait. Iraq asked Kuwait to forgive its war debt and to stop exceeding oil production limits set by OPEC. (Kuwait’s overproduction kept oil prices low, hurting Iraq’s recovery efforts). Knowing the U.S. had its back, Kuwait told its former ally to buzz off and pay up. Iraq invaded Kuwait, killed 1,200 Kuwaiti citizens, and caused more than $50 billion worth of damage. Perhaps if puny Kuwait had shown deference to a powerful neighbor that fought against a common enemy, two U.S. wars could have been avoided. Instead, five thousand Americans lost their lives because those stupid, spoiled, billionaire Emirs refused to throw a bone to their fellow Arabs. When superpowers hand out security guarantees like candy, stupidity ensues.
Let’s not forget the 800-pound gorilla in the room: $200 trillion in federal debt oblications. We’re broke! Since U.S. global hegemony is unsustainable, the rise of regional powers like China, Russia, and Iran is inevitable. The U.S. should reign in its military commitments and focus on getting its own house in order.
Peace and trade with all nations, entangling alliances with none!
Yes, go tell the Ukrainians how dumb they were giving up their nuclear arsenal, believing in such nonsense as international security guarantees.
If I knew what was going on in the world I would be a rich man and not have to work for a living.
Another point of view is that this war is being fought with “money.” For example: http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-ukraine-is-the-waterloo-event-for-the-us-dollar/#more-39680 . I have also heard that Syria was the Waterloo.
Whatever the facts are the dollar is the Petrodollar and it does appear tat the BRIC countries are lining up against us. Its like peeling an onion!!
Very helpful and informative. Reblogged here:
http://ex-army.blogspot.com/2014/03/guillaume-faye-on-crisis-in-ukraine.html
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