The battle for UkraineKamNam mentioned the geopolitical situation in Ukraine was about to heat up..Yet, again.Thanks for the heads up KamNam.!!Can’t say this turn of events would come as a surprise. No, not a surprise at all.Some of the featured article is pure spin to justify continued or new western intervention.But, there is some factual information present.
After the Soviet Union fell two decades ago, Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote that "without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire." Those are still the stakes in the current struggle over Ukraine.Last week the government in Kiev took a step back into Russia's orbit when it abandoned plans to sign an "association" trade treaty this Friday with the European Union and announced its intentions to get closer to a Moscow-led trade bloc. The decision by President Viktor Yanukovych followed months of bullying by Moscow.
Following months of bullying by Moscow??As opposed to years of bullying by NATO nations?
Russia's Vladimir Putin has slapped trade sanctions, cut energy supplies and threatened worse for Ukraine and other neighbors that seek closer relations with the West. Armenia caved this summer and joined the Russian customs union. Moldova and Georgia are moving ahead with their EU trade deals.
With a population of 46 million and located along NATO's eastern frontier, Ukraine is the biggest prize. Since retaking the Russian presidency last year, Mr. Putin has turned even more hostile to the West and sought to recreate a Russian sphere of influence over the "near abroad." The Obama Administration's "reset" in relations with Moscow failed to anticipate or stop this.
The near abroad? Interesting double talk/spin language. The Ukraine is geographically closer to Russia then the US... And a great many residents in Ukraine identify with Russia. A topic that has been covered way back here.
Ukrainian officials say the Russian sanctions cost them $15 billion in lost trade and could run up to half a trillion by signing the EU deal. "Ukraine government suddenly bows deeply to the Kremlin," tweeted the veteran Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in response to Thursday's reversal in Kiev. "Politics of brutal pressure evidently works."
Mr. Yanukovych contributed to this debacle. A thuggish pol (name calling/demonization tactic) from industrial eastern Ukraine, he tried to steal the 2004 presidential election, but a popular uprising stopped him. The Orange Revolution ensured free elections in 2010, which Mr. Yanukovych won, and he has since taken an authoritarian turn.
Digression: The Orange Revolution- just another western created colour revolution. Backed heavily by the now dead oligarch Boris Berezovsky. BBC Documentary excerpt. Boris Berezovsky pours money into the NATO orange revolution, as did George Soros. I do believe that the Yanukovych actually won that previous election. Fast forward to the present..Excerpt from BBC documentary Wikipedia “Former president Leonid Kravchuk accused Russian oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, of financing Yushchenko's campaign on 14 September 2005.[36][nb 3] Yushchenko denied Berezovsky financed his election campaign.[36] Financing of election campaigns by foreign citizens is illegal in Ukraine.[37] At first Berezovsky refused to confirm or deny Kravchuk's allegations, but in November 2005 he did claim that indeed he had heavily financed the Orange Revolution” Back to: The battle for Ukraine
Desperate to stem his falling support before elections in 2015, Mr. Yanukovych seized on Russia's offer of trade relief and cheap gas. He has also jailed his chief rival, the Orange leader Yulia Tymoshenko, whom the EU insisted be released for medical treatment in Germany. His allies in parliament last month changed the law that could disqualify, on a technicality, the reigning WBC heavyweight champion and parliamentary opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko from running for president. The polls say the popular Mr. Klitschko would win if the election were held today.
A good deal with Moscow for Mr. Yanukovych is bad for Ukrainians who have made clear they want to get closer to the friendlier, richer West. ( No, they haven’t) Tens of thousands have protested in the Kiev streets in the past few days against Mr. Yanukovych's decision. The country's business elites also oppose joining the Russian customs union, and for now Mr. Yanukovych has resisted Moscow's pressure to start talks. The EU trade deal remains on the table, as the EU emphasized in a Monday statement that also condemned "the external pressure" from Moscow on Ukraine.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel took the wrong step this weekend by proposing EU-Russian talks over the eastern neighbors, as if these countries haven't been sovereign states for 22 years. Germany is also blocking a proposal to offer Georgia a path to NATO membership, while Washington seems little more than a bystander. An independent Ukraine that leans West will lead to a more peaceful Europe and make it harder for Mr. Putin to rebuild a revanchist Russian empire.
It is not an independent Ukraine the West and NATO are after. Because an independent Ukraine would not necessarily lead to a more peaceful Europe or create difficulties for Russia. A truly independent Ukraine will take actions that are in the interest of the Ukraine.