Ukraine has been a border state with Europe while a part of the Soviet Union. It was that part of the Soviet Union that specialized in nuclear weapons and their deployment, especially as a threat to Europe, ie: The Cuban Missile Crisis for the USA. But, also the continued existence of intermediate nuclear weapons in proximity of Europe can't be overlooked.
Ukraine has had all sorts of issues, including genocide in it's history. The entire existance of Ukraine while under Soviet control has been laced with a population difficult to unite (typical of communists) because of ethnic issues. The population of Ukraine, as exampled in Crimea, where severely division exists into ethnic groups that oppose each other.
We saw in Ukraine, under Viktor Yanukovych the decommissioning of the Ukraine military and the splintering of domestic interests with each major city or town equiped with a military unit that would serve to keep order. There was no national military under Yanukovych. In that, kindly realize, ethnic divides were enforced which allowed Putin to rule in Ukraine as a person able to maintain order and protect national security. Putin was a very populous figure in Ukraine. He always made appearances with wresters and basically storng men known for their phyiscal strength.
These enteries are heavily based on the insights of primarily one scholar, Professor Ivan Katchanovski. He is based securly away from Russian influence in:
School of Political Studies
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON
K1N 6N5
Canada
Tel. 613-407-1295
ikatchan@uottawa.ca
Professor Katchanovski's writings are prolific since the Maidan Massacre and have inspired others to right including women professors on women's rights. The collection of evidence as exhibited in the writings of these magnificent people is extensive and could easily bring about it's own small library of collected works, of which I have witnessed nearly weekly in my inbox. That is incredible since the Maidan Massacre was on February 20, 2014.
First to address the misconceptions of The West regarding the Maidan massacre. The violence of the Maidan went unrecognized for it's diverse participants. That I find a little unsettling since Ukraine is such an important ally in freedom, anti-corruption and democracy.
This is a bit of a lecture, but, The West cannot be afraid of being liberators and eager to recognize how divided a peoples are during and after such rebellious acts. To know the DIVERSITY of an event, be it good and/or evil, if there is such a thing, is only to realize the aftermath that claimed democracy as it's governance, FINALLY, and over came hatred, fear of independence from Russia and the willingness to live an autonomous existance as an ally to those in the world that love democracy.
There is significant criticism by Professor Katchanovski of the Western Press. That is due to the lack of insight of the entire domestic picture of Ukraine and the proposful ethnic divisions enforced by Russian influence. We still see those ethnic divides in Crimea and the civil war at the Russian border.
Professor Katchanovski can be a very valuable voice to the Western Press in understanding the domestic picture of Ukraine and the hopes of it's people. As I have said there are others that began publishing to benefit the goal of democracy and Ukraine's journey to freedom of oppression and hatred.
Prof. Ivan Katchanovski: (click here) My studies found that the Maidan massacre of the protestors
and the police on February 20, 2014 involved the far right and oligarchic parties, and it
was a key element of the violent overthrow of the corrupt and oligarchic but
democratically elected government in Ukraine. This mass killing was a successful false
ag operation, which was organized and conducted by elements of the Maidan leadership
and concealed armed groups in order to win the asymmetric conict during the
“Euromaidan” and seize power in Ukraine.
Various evidence examined in my studies shows that concealed groups of Maidan snipers,
which were based in particular in Music Conservatory and the Hotel Ukraina, started the
massacre in the early morning on February 20 by targeting Berkut and Internal Troops
units on the Maidan itself with live ammunition re, inicting their mass casualties, and
forcing them to retreat. Then the armed Maidan groups, in particular the same ones,
massacred the unsuspecting Maidan protestors from concealed positions. The analysis of
circumstances, timing, and locations of specic killings of 49 protestors presents evidence
that at least the absolute majority of them were killed from the Maidan-controlled
buildings....
It is best to understand the divisions and hatred by Post Soviet countries to best understand the people and their ambitions to be autonomous. Democracy and freedom require acceptance of DIVERSITY not its enforcement.
This article in JStor (click here) can explain the domestic geopolitics of the USSR. It is not an article by the Ukraine scholars I referred to, but, does precede one of the articles that speak to genocide that occurred under the flag of WWII. Kindly remember, the Soviet Union lead by Joseph Stalin was an ally in WWII.
The Soviet Union without czars was not that old or well established at the time of WWII. The Russian Revolution was begun in 1917 when there was a beginning of the global bird flu pandemic which claimed the lives of 50 million people (click here). The Russian Revolution ended in 1923. A dictatorship or COMMITTEE following the revolution was placed in governance as the country recognized a single czar. The idea of a communist committee representing the people satisfied the populous unrest by the rebels which included the rebel known as Joseph Stalin.
As with many other issues of genocide it sometimes is viewed as a conflict or war. Certainly, the Baltic States under Clinton (click here) is a clear example of that. Below is the abstract to the paper that raises clear divergence of opinion by scholars. I think it is time to reconcil those opinions to a clear understanding of genocide or not. It most certainly appears to be a genocide that was carried out during WWII.
There can be such dynamics in a major war. The USA is mostly vigilant of that possiblity as witnessed by prosecution of the individuals that carried it out. That type of prosecution existed with Vietnam and Iraq.
Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide or Ukrainian-Polish Conflict? The Mass Murder of Poles by
the OUN and the UPA in Volhynia1
Ivan Katchanovski, Ph.D.
Paper prepared for presentation at the 19th Annual World Convention of the Association for the
Study of Nationalities, Columbia University, New York, US, April 24-26, 2014.
Draft
This paper analyzes the mass-murder of Poles in Volhynia (click here) in Western Ukraine during World
War II. The mass murder of Poles by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Stepan
Bandera faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B) during the Nazi
occupation of Volhynia in 1943 became an important political issue in Poland and Ukraine after
the collapse of communism. Previous studies by Polish, Ukrainian, and Western researchers
offered different and often divergent theories of this historical event. It is often presented in
Ukraine as a mutual Ukrainian-Polish conflict. In contrast, in Poland, the mass murder of Poles
in Volhynia is often characterized as genocide. A research question is whether this was a
Ukrainian-Polish conflict, ethnic cleansing or genocide. This study analyzes a variety of archival
documents, historical studies, and eyewitness accounts. It offers an estimate of Polish casualties
derived from analysis of OUN-UPA, Polish, and Soviet, and sources and demographic data. This
study concludes that the mass murder of the Polish minority in Volhynia by the OUN-B, the
UPA, and their security service (SB) represented not a mutual Ukrainian-Polish conflict or
genocide of Poles but that it was a part of ethnic cleansing.
The reason I decided to bring this to the blog is because Russia has amassed a large number of troops at the borders of the Post-Soviet States. It along with Belrus has begun a humanitarian crisis at the feet of Western Democracy to use as a propaganda tool. This strategy by the communists is a clear understanding of injecting still yet another unsettled ethnicity into the region.
If the Soviet Union carried out ethnic cleansing during WWII, that has to be viewed as a reason to bring about clarity to such dynamics at a time when the communists seem intent on rebuilding the Soviet Union and all it's human rights abuses.
In reporting about this region, there needs to be a clear understanding that the history of these lands is unsettling to say the least, that countries with smaller footprints than the USA or Russia carry heavy ethnic populations and that unification against human rights abuses is the focus and NOT DIVISION of people to facilitate hate and increased reasons for war.
Ukraine and the Maidam are clear indications that strong democracies emerge when given strong allies unified for one purpose of peace and the end of human suffering.
I might add, the 50 percent of Russian citizens now demanding democratic elections for their leaders must be preserved and fostered. Democracy will happen without divisions that bring about hatred and violence. Currently, the Russian elections are extremely corrupt with power players that imprison under the current court system. The Russian Duma has given permission for the corruption time and again.
