Ukraine: the road to Hell
- By Heiko Khoo
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 14, 2014
The chaotic disintegration of the Ukrainian nation and the explosion of nationalist conflict amongst its people is the fruit of the poisonous seeds sown in the aftermath of the Cold War. A prolonged economic collapse and the seizure of political power by a handful of oligarchs divided between the Eastern and Western regions produced an acute inner social tension that underlies the background of today's nationalist conflict.
In recent weeks, in the eastern regions of Ukraine, uprisings against the new Kiev government have led to the formation of the Donetsk "People's Republic" and the Lugansk "People's Republic." They took control of local state power: seized buildings; ousted officials; and organized an independence referendum.
These pro-Russian forces were bolstered when Crimea broke away from Ukraine and the Russian military provided support. Ukraine's own military and police forces are themselves divided and the old structures of command have no moral weight. As a result, Ukraine's agencies of state repression are unreliable. Thus, when their military forces were ordered to clamp down on anti-Kiev rebellions, they required an extra boost to their muscles. Neo-Nazi forces gladly supplied foot soldiers to carry out a campaign of arson, murder and terror.
These thugs, for whom barbarity is an exciting escape from everyday drudgery, set Odessa's Trade Union building on fire, killing dozens of unarmed civilians inside. Some of those who survived the inferno were apparently strangled or beaten to death with bats. Even during the most ferocious clashes in the Arab Spring, no comparable acts of cruelty occurred. And how did BBC news report this? It claimed that the fire was started by some sort of spontaneous combustion and those killed had brought it upon themselves.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and his line-manager, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, both bleat on endlessly about legality, legality and more legality. They sound like broken clockwork sheep and they conveniently forget that the Kiev government itself has no real legal mandate for its actions. Of course, both British and U.S. policy-makers hold no respect for legality in any case, unless it happens to correspond with their specific interests at the time.
Last week's referendums on independence in Eastern Ukraine resulted in a huge yes vote. This vote was condemned in the West because it did not produce the desired outcome. Although the rebellion in eastern Ukraine might appear to resemble a genuine and popular revolutionary movement, at its root, it is a clash of interests between Russia and the West, and between contradictory Ukrainian nationalisms that are the subjective forces shaping the existing struggle.
This divided and polarising nationalism is the primary drive guiding these rebellions. Only a magician could quench these disparate and contradictory nationalist thirsts. The people will be forced to taste blood before drinking champagne. Sadly, it is now hard to see how a civil war can be averted. A unified Ukraine will inevitably remain dependent on Russian oil and gas, regardless of who becomes the new leader. So, eventually, they will have to yield to the Kremlin. The division of Ukraine would prevent this, but would produce a civil war in which locals slaughter each other in the name of their favourite national flag. Nothing progressive will come of this.
It is said that "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions." So it is appropriate that the first speech of Arseniy Yatseniuk as Ukraine's interim prime minister opened with the words, "Welcome to Hell." In Ukraine, good intentions are already hard to find and all signs seem to be pointing to the inferno.
The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://china.org.cn/opinion/heikokhoo.htm
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