Roman Malanke

Ukrainian War for Democracy

I would have never believed if someone told me that I would live in a time when my country would be on a brink of a war. Like many of my peers I thought that wars is something you read about in history books. Yet, here we are. It’s 2014 and Putin has effectively declared a war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian people who after three months of struggle finally got rid of the criminal president are now facing the next-level monster — a power-blunted schizophrenic whose might is built on exploiting resources of the huge land while disseminating ignorance and lies among its people. The man clearly doesn’t get that it’s 21st century and that the strength of Ukraine is not to be measured by its frail economy or weak army, but by the intelligence and spirit of its people who are willing to do all it takes to finally break the umbilical cord connecting it to the Soviet past and corrupted post-Soviet pseudo-democracy. My prediction is that Putin is up to a failure in this war, just as Yanukovych was a few months back, but on a much bigger scale.

So what’s really happening in Ukraine? After Euromaidan protest movement has succeeded in its goal of overthrowing Putin’s puppet Yanukovych and resurrecting the current version of constitution making Ukraine a Parliamentary republic vs. Presidential one, a new clearly pro-EU majority was formed in the Parliament. The new majority swiftly set a date of new presidential elections, appointed new Prime Minister and The Cabinet, as well as named the Speaker of the Parliament an acting interim president. This turn of events was the opposite of what Putin wanted, as it essentially meant losing control over Ukraine as it continued making steps towards closer integration with the EU. Here Putin freaked out and activated his next evil plan.

The plan is to create an artificial armed conflict throughout Eastern and Southern Ukraine. To do that badly disguised Russian army forces are deployed pretending to be on the one side aggressive extremists and on the other side self-defense units formed by Ukrainians to protect the order. This supposedly warrants sending Russian army with the mission to “stabilize the situation and save innocent Russian speakers who suffer from aggressive Ukrainian nationalists threatening to kill them”. Now, the way it is done is ridiculous. The way it’s shown on Russian TV is ridiculous squared. The torrents of fact distortions, plain lies and false footages are incredible. For example, they show a long line of cars on Ukraine-Poland border and say that it’s scared Ukrainians on Ukraine-Russia border trying to flee to Russia seeking security. They don’t even care to blackout the sign on the screen, which in large letters gives the name of the Polish border security checkpoint. And this is just one little instance in this endless pack of lies.

What makes me optimistic despite all this is that while Putin is working hard to “shape public opinion” inside Russia with his filthy propaganda, all civilized world has recognized the new Ukrainian government as legitimate, and pledged all forms of support needed. At the same time, inside Ukraine we are observing an unseen degree of unity among all political powers, all social classes including the richest businessmen, cultural and educational elite, journalists, and all conscious citizens in all regions. We are all united by a pure patriotic desire to keep Ukraine independent, integral, and on its way to a better democratic future. And Putin? Fuck Putin.

2014-03-02