Ukraine “is not a nation”
Russian president Vladimir Putin, during a private meeting with US President George W. Bush at the NATO Summit, is reported as saying “Don’t you understand, George – Ukraine is not even a nation! What is Ukraine? Part of her territory is Eastern Europe, and part, a considerable part, was given by us!”
This was reported first in this Kommersant article (RUS), which is referenced in this Ukrayinska Pravda article (UKR). This UNIAN article (ENG), interestingly, doesn’t quote Putin’s purported inflammatory statement, although it does include his outright threat: “Russia may consider forcefully incorporating the eastern part of Ukraine and the Crimea into its territory.”
A couple hours after this story “broke” (which is quite an overstatement, since it wasn’t even reported on the evening news in Kyiv), Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko voiced her rather lame response.
My husband Igor said of her response: “Які політикі, така й відповідь – ніяка.” (Her response is just like Ukrainian politics – meaningless.)
Let’s hope the media and public pick up on this story soon, and are as outraged as they rightfully should be! For all the NATO nay-sayers out there, you won’t find NATO threatening or denying Ukrainian sovereignty and independence!
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Ah, but who will listen? America is on its way down the tubes, and as its clout follows, countries like Russia, China, and the bulk of the Islamic world don’t really care what complaints are raised. America was the muscle and money behind NATO. What does Russia care that NATO whines? And where will the Ukraine go for help? I’m afraid that the world, having chaffed at America’s dominance over international affairs, is about to learn what the world will be like when America is no longer able to dominate international affairs. And unfortunately, the good folks of the Ukraine will probably be among the first to experience this new dynamic.
(By the way, the strange setup on this page, with the pictures and links sidebar overlaying the comment box, makes it a tad awkward for posting a comment. You may want to look at that).
Comment by D.K. — 4/11/2008 @ 4:05 pm
What browser are you using? The layout works OK for me in Firefox and I just checked in Explorer. I don’t seem to be able to recreate the problem that you are having. Can you email me some more details so I can try to fix whatever is going on?
Thanks!
Ann
Comment by Ann — 4/11/2008 @ 4:23 pm