The Ukraine
To understand what is happening in Kiyv [Kiev] you need a little history. There are three major groups of Russians: the Great Russians, the White Russians, and the Little Russians that refer to themselves as Russians, Belorussians, and Ukrainians. They have their own countries now: Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine.
They started off in the Ukraine, traditionally near the river Ros from which they derived their name. The first capital of the Russians was Kiyv, and the prince of Kiyv was the first among equals.
Then the Mongols showed up and destroyed Kiyv and made all the Russians a vassal people. The Horde’s hold on the area was finally broken by Johann the Great, the prince of Moscow, and the process of creating the Russian Empire was began when Johann’s grandson, Johann the Awesome, recaptured most of the area formerly in Russian control from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Johann the Awesome took the title of Caesar of all the Russias or Tsar. [In the West he is generally known as Ivan the Terrible.]
While Russia had a pattern of large estates with serfs, the Ukraine developed small family farms on some of the richest soil in the world. This difference caused major problems when the Bolsheviks created the Soviet Union. As far as Russian agriculture was concerned, the owner of the estate changed to ‘the state’, but life continued as before. In the Ukraine, the system was totally disrupted. The individual farmers were persecuted as ‘enemies of the people’ and farming was collectivized. To further reduce opposition to the Soviets, an artificial famine was introduced by Stalin in the 1930s. Thousands starved while the Soviet Union exported grain for hard currency. The hatred for the Soviets was so intense, that there was an entire division in Hitler’s army manned by Ukrainians.
These events are not forgotten by either Russians or Ukrainians. When Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych cancelled a trade deal with the European Union in favor of a bail out from Russia, all hell was loosed in Kiyv.
The opposition is made up of young people hoping for democracy and a better life, which they don’t see in Russia. Nationalist groups hate the Russians on principle and fear a new ‘Soviet Union’ under Putin. Other rightwing groups feel the Ukraine will be sold to the Russian oligarchs, especially following the Russian tactic of turning off the national gas supply to the Ukraine during the winter to rewrite the terms of transit.
The bloody and deadly attempts by the government to stop the protests have made things worse. The protestors will see the hand of Putin in this response, and it will harden their resolve.
12 comments
http://www.vdare.com/articles/ukraines-crisis-not-ours
“what happens in Ukraine has always been more critical to Moscow than it has ever been to us.”
You left out the Cossacks. To be fair, by the time Stalin got through with them there wasn’t a whole lot for you to study, so (shrug).
To add to the mix, Stalin had a bad habit of moving huge numbers of people from point A to point B to make it harder for them to make trouble and make it easier to infiltrate secret policemen into an area. So he deported a lot of Ukrainians to other parts of the USSR, and in turn deported a lot of Russians to pretty much everywhere, of whom an unknown number were actually secret policemen but there was so many of them that it was hard to spot who the secret policemen were, which was sort of the point. He couldn’t deport *all* Ukrainians and replace them with Russians and other ethnicities, but between those killed in the famine and those killed elsewhere, a lot of ethnic Russians ended up down there. So there are in fact Ukrainians who don’t consider themselves to be Ukrainians and who are looked upon with suspicion by other Ukrainians, meaning you have the potential for some good ole’ fashioned ethnic cleansing here, except that things got so homogenized during the old USSR days that it’s hard to tell who’s who since Soviet culture got imposed at gunpoint upon everybody, Russian or not. But still, the pro-Kremlin numbers are not insignificant and possibly might be enough to prop up the regime, in which case what we have is a Syria style civil war. Yay. (For a definition of “yay” that is followed by a deep sigh).
TDS did a piece on what’s happening in the Ukraine, and also Russia. If things aren’t cooled down in the Ukraine soon, it’s going to get really nasty.
Jon *suggested* that Russia is now the perfect haven for the neo-con’s as Putin and his followers are not only embracing the neo-con ideals, they are making them happen. 🙂 Sounds like a great idea to me! Ship all the Rethugs to Russia! I’m sure Putin will be happy to have them. 😈 LOL
Jon also had a lot to say about Kansas House Bill 2699, and then… there is Missouri. They want to pass a bill that allows parents to allow their children to opt out of any classes that teach evolution (or that the Earth isn’t flat, or that it revolves around the Sun). Why? Because evolution isn’t taught in the Bible, so it shouldn’t be taught in Schools. Yeah, seriously. 🙄
The full episode isn’t up yet at TDS (2014-02-20 Guest: Ronan Farrow), but it’s worth watching when it is. 🙂
And of course, the Winter Olympics is pretty much the debacle many expected in Putin’s favorite resort town. *shrug*
Badtux, the Kazaki weren’t Ukrainians and had no part the Ukrainian-Russian problems. The Soviets did their best to wipe out the Kazaki because they were the core of the White Army.
The Russians still living in what has become the Ukraine are a definite problem. They don’t want to learn Ukrainian, and they have no real loyalty to Kiyv. The stage is set for a possible civil war if things don’t calm down because the sides are in different geographic areas of the Ukraine.
Hopefully the latest agreement on early elections will hold.
Kryten, this is not going to good if things don’t calm down quickly. I’m not sure that any agreement will hold because the groups that make up the opposition only have displeasure with the current President in common. Beyond that, their agendas are quite diverse and cover the entire political spectrum.
THE Ukraine? Ahem. Ukraine, please.
TIA,
A Little Russian
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-ukraine-isnt-the-ukraine-and-why-that-matters-now-2013-12
Thanks for an excellent perspective, Bryan. I had no idea how complicated the Ukraine had become, and that this ‘rumpus’ is more than just a tantrum over not getting connected with the EU.
Plus the Russians living in the Ukraine have Russian passports, setting up an Ossetian solution where Putin sends in a couple of infantry divisions to “protect our citizens”. Even though the vast majority of those Russians have never been anywhere near Russia, since they were born and raised in the Ukraine. Man, Stalin sure did a number on the Ukraine, didn’t he?
Khrushchev, who was Ukrainian and the head of the Ukrainian SSR, took a note expressing irritation with the Ukraine and really did a thorough job of covering his butt by pulling his region apart to prove his loyalty to Uncle Joe. That’s the power of occasional purges of Party leaders.
If Putin gets too pushy he could lose his main naval port on the Black Sea. That strategy worked in Georgia, but it hasn’t worked in the Baltic states.
NTodd, as you should know, there are no definite or indefinite articles in Slavic languages, so it has nothing to do with any plot by Russians or others. Definite article use is part of other languages. Technically the name should be Ukraina, and Russia should be Rossia, but no one mentions those anomalies.
People take issue with the strangest things.
I’m not sure Putin really cares that much about the Baltic states. Not much there except a lot of drunks, and he has plenty of his own drunks.
Russia has been rumbling about upgrading Novorossiysk to be suitable for basing and maintaining their Black Sea fleet, but the reality is that Novorossiysk is rather too small for that purpose and due to the geography really cannot be expanded even if the Russian Federation was competent to do so (see: Sochi). Of course, if their Black Sea fleet continues to decline in numbers, soon enough it will be able to be based in a bathtub :twisted:.
NTodd, as you should know, there are no definite or indefinite articles in Slavic languages, so it has nothing to do with any plot by Russians or others. Definite article use is part of other languages.
The use of definite articles reflects the agit-prop that Ukraine was merely a region in the Russian Empire with no distinct nationality, like we say “the Midwest,” so I stand by my long-held objection. It also continues to irritate because we don’t call Russia “the Russia.” Spelling is another issue altogether, but is at least mostly consistent with regard to Anglification of both countries’ names.
Eventually the entire Russian navy will corrode to nothing except a few inflatables at port cities, Badtux.
Maybe they should change the name, NTodd. They’ve changed the official language, the alphabet, and other place names, they could certainly find something they liked. In the meantime the fact that they call Angela Merkel’s country ‘the land of the dumb/mute’ doesn’t show a lot of respect for other nations. The Dutch went along with calling their country ‘the hellish lands’, but they have a sense of humor. I amazed that the Vatican has never raised this burning issue.