White House Ukraine Policy Upside Down
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
April 23, 2014 All Rights Reserved.
When pro-Western insurgents toppled the duly elected government of
Russia-backed Viktor Yanukovich Feb. 22 they thought they were doing the country
a favor. As the dust settled, they
realized that Ukraine’s near bankruptcy punished all of its citizens, including
the desperate ones living in Russian strongholds of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s abysmal economy affected
all Ukrainians, reeling for unredeemed promises of capitalism sweeping the
landscape since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Interim Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk told NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press” that Russian President
Vladimir Putin sought to reinstate the old Soviet Union. Most of the economically miserable citizens in the former Soviet republics also wish the
Soviet Union was back to pay the hefty living, health and retirement benefits to
former workers.
Yatsenyuk played with old twisted ideas of the former Soviet Union that
it was hell-bent on nuclear domination to control the planet. Whether the Russian Federation has
problems or not, it’s doing far better than most the former Soviet satellites
that are destitute economically and reeling from the collapse of the Soviet
Union. What’s beyond inexplicable are the reasons given by pro-Western activists that toppled
the pro-Russian Yanukovich government.
Led by 42-year-old Ukrainian-born former heavyweight champion Vitale
Klitschko, the anti-Russian protesters claimed they sought economic reforms
through the European Union. Since revolutionary euphoria has faded after the Feb. 22 revolution, Ukraine’s citizens
understand, whether in Crimea, East or in Kiev, that the country is an economic
disaster where there’s no quick-fix or free ride to salvation.
Recent discussions with the International Monetary Fund and EU have
slapped Ukraine’s youthful leaders, 49-year-old Oleksandr Turchinov and
39-year-old Yatsenyuk on the side of their heads that there’s no free lunch. When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev April 20, Turchinov and Yatsenyuk
hoped he was traveling on Air Force One with pallets of hundred-dollars-bills. Unlike Iraq, Turchinov and Yatenyuk
won’t be stuffing their pockets with easy cash at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Biden fell far short of their
expectations that Uncle Sam would rescue the Ukrainian economy and rebuild the
military. No one has explained what
was so offensive to Ukraine’s pro-Western demonstrators about Yanukovich’s $16
billion bailout from Moscow. There’s no question that Putin offered Ukraine a far better economic deal that the EU,
IMF or anyone else.
Once Turchinov and Yatesenyuk looked at all the strings attached to an EU
bailout, they begged the U.S. to offer financial aid, using the most clever Cold
War scare tactics. Yatsenyuk dared
to warn the U.S. against Russia’s nuclear arsenal and intent to dominate Europe
and the world. Finding one of
Turchinov’s buddies, Volodymyr Rybak’s tortured body floating in the
Seversky-Donets river speaks volumes about the fragile April 18 truce signed in
Geneva. Calling the murders of two
of Turchinov’s Batkivshchyna Party’s members acts of “terrorists,” Turchinov
renewed calls for anti-terror operations in Eastern Ukraine. Turchinov was already humiliated
when his last anti-terrorist operation ended when his soldiers refused to fight
their Eastern Ukrainian brothers.
White House officials must accept the fact that Turchinov and Yatsenyuk don’t
represent a majority of Ukrainians.
Trying their best to drag the U.S. into a direct confrontation with
Russia, Turchinov and Yatsenyuk exposed their self-serving interests. “These crimes are being carried out with the full support and indulgence of the Russian
Federation,” said Turchinove, referring to the murders as “terrorism” to score
points on Capitol Hill. So far,
Obama has resisted calls led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Bob Corker
(R-Tenn.) for the U.S. to directly confront Russian aggression.
What the White House and Capitol Hill
don’t see is that Turchinov seeks nothing short of a free U.S. bailout. “I call on the security agencies to
re-launch and carry out effective anti-terrorist measures, with the aim of
protecting Ukrainian citizens living in Eastern Ukraine from terrorists,” said
Turchinov, appealing the post-Sept. 11 crowd that can’t distinguish between
terrorism and a civil war.
Ukraine’s problems stem from the rocky road taken after the collapse of
the Soviet Union. When Yatsenyuk
tells U.S. media that Putin wants to restore the old Soviet Union, he’s not the
only one. Citizens of the former
Soviet republics also wish that Big Brother would pay their living, health care
and retirement benefits like the old Soviet Union. Whether there are lingering Cold War
fears or not in the U.S., White House officials shouldn’t get seduced into
fighting Ukraine’s battles. It’s
clear that Ukraine’s current youthful leaders don’t represent the vast majority
of Ukraines, certainly not the ones living in Crimea and Easter provinces. When new elections are held May 25,
one can only hope Ukrainians pick a consensus candidate, not former Ukrainian
Prime Minster Yulia Tymoshenko.
Whoever Ukraine picks, the U.S. or EU should not have a dog in the fight.
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