Ukraine and Imperial
Designs
R Arun Kumar
UKRAINE today is the
laboratory for imperialist designs. The
unrest and popular protests in Ukraine
had forced the president of the country, Viktor F Yanukovych
to flee. Armed
with a warrant, search is on to arrest him. A case is also
filed before the
International Criminal Court to try him for war crimes – the
police action
against the protesters, which resulted in the death of more
than hundred
people. As is now becoming common, any popular protest that
results in the
ruler being ousted from power is called as a 'revolution'
and in Ukraine it is
called as an 'orange-brown revolution'.
SIMMERING
TENSIONS
Tensions have been
simmering in Ukraine for
the
past few years, particularly after the global economic
crisis hit its economy.
During Soviet days, Ukraine
was considered as an economic powerhouse. After the collapse
of the USSR,
all the former republics of the Soviet
Union had witnessed a sharp fall in their economy and living
standards and Ukraine was
not
an exception. For a republic which was way ahead of Germany,
France, Great
Britain in per capita production of goods in the days of
USSR, it is today in a
deplorable situation. Ukraine
was at the top of many industrial countries of Europe
in all the aspects of manufacturing – from industrial to
agricultural goods and
engineering. In the subsequent two decades, there was
complete chaos and all
aspects of production saw a decline, machine production fell
by over 28 percent
and so did agricultural production. Social evils like
prostitution, drug
addiction spread rapidly. Unemployment grew, particularly
amongst the youth.
Corruption became all prevalent. These had adversely
impacted even the
demographic character of the country. The number of people
living in Ukraine too
fell drastically. All this, due to its transition to
capitalism and adherence
to neo-liberal economic policies.
It is in this
background that the economic crisis had
impacted the country. The government of Ukraine
was forced to further
hasten its 'reforms', which were hugely unpopular. Social
sector spending was
cut particularly in the field
of healthcare, housing and community services. A tax policy
that increased
prices and tariffs
was introduced. On the other hand, the rich oligarchs, who
are hand-in-glove
with government officials and thoroughly corrupt, are handed
doles.
Many Western experts
believe that Ukraine is
under a serious threat of economic and financial collapse. Ukraine
needs
around 15 billion dollars to cover its gas bills, for loan
payments to the IMF
and other creditors. The monies for this were sought to be
mobilised by further
burdening the people. The country’s foreign-currency
reserves have been reduced
to about $12 billion and the value of the Hryvnia, its
currency, is plummeting.
Today, Ukraine’s
coffers
hardly contain enough money to pay salaries and pensions for
even a few
months. Severe discontent among the people resulted in waves
of protests in
many Ukrainian cities. These got further strengthened after
the violent police
attack on a peaceful youth protest in the Liberation Square
in the centre of Kiev on November 30.
The Ukrainian
government instead of addressing the
concerns of its citizens wanted to come out of the crisis by
negotiating deals
with the European Union on one hand and Russia
on the other. The EU had
demanded Ukraine
to implement severe austerity measures, to which President
Yanukovych was
reluctant, rightly fearing popular wrath. At the last
moment, he backed away
from a trade deal with Europe and sought help from Russia
instead. Russia
in fact
had promised $15 billion in loans and cheap gas, but had
suspended that aid in
response to the political uncertainty. Both Russia
and EU are keen to have Ukraine
under their influence. Ukraine’s
trade
in 2012 was almost equally split between Russia
and the EU, but over the past year Russian-Ukrainian trade
has fallen by a
quarter, which is a concern to Russia.
For Russia,
Ukraine
with 45 million
population, one of the biggest of the former Soviet
republics and which is like
a buffer between its territory and the rest of the Europe
is strategically important. Its Black Sea naval fleet is
based in that country
and crucial pipelines in Ukraine
carry Russian natural gas to customers in Europe.
The oil produced in Russia
is refined in Ukraine.
So Russia
is keen to have Ukraine as a
part of its Eurasian Union, rather than leave it to become a
member of the
European Union. Sizeable number of Russians still live in
the eastern parts of Ukraine.
The developed
countries in the EU and the US
want Ukraine
to be an integral part of the EU and even the NATO, to
counter the growing
assertion of Russia.
Wooing Ukraine
and other East European countries gathered pace after the
2008 economic crisis,
as this was viewed as one of the ways to come out of the
crisis – prising open
their markets, robbing their resources and imposing burdens
on their people. As
a part of these efforts, in 2009, the European Union
initiated an Eastern
Partnership Program to tighten ties with former Soviet
republics, including Ukraine.
Being
part of EU was projected to the people of Ukraine,
both by the ruling and
opposition parties, as a panacea for many of their problems.
The EU and US
actively encouraged and aided this propaganda.
The president of the
country had promised the EU
leaders to positively consider their proposal and align with
them. He had
promised to integrate Ukraine
with the European Union by signing sweeping political and
trade agreements.
Many of the opposition parties too had spread this illusion
among the people
that despite the problems of various countries in the EU,
they can make the
Union 'better' and also ensure a 'better association
agreement' between Ukraine
and EU.
Russia perceived all these
attempts as a threat to its
economic and military interests in the region. It exerted
pressure on the
government to desist from aligning with the EU and joining
NATO. Russia
also
tried to lure the government by offering cheaper loans and
gas prices. The
pressure exerted by Russia and its offer of 'aid', together
with the harsh
conditions accompanying the loans and assistance offered by
the EU, pushed the
government to declare that it is not going to sign
agreements with the EU in
November. People who were already influenced by the pro-EU
propaganda protested
this move and came out on the streets in large numbers.
The far-right parties,
propagating chauvinist
positions, projected the government's decision to move away
from the EU as
succumbing to Russian pressure. They fed on the undercurrent
anti-Russian
sentiments, which blame Russia
for all the present problems of Ukraine
and fanned jingoist Ukrainian nationalism. The EU's campaign
against communism,
socialism and distorted presentation of history combined
with the propaganda
that Russia
had forcefully
occupied Ukraine
during the Soviet era, aided the right-wing forces and
neo-Nazis. According to
the Communist Party of Ukraine, these neo-Nazis were
responsible for the
vanadalisation of Lenin's statue in Kiev
and also the targeting of communists and even an attack on
the headquarters of
the Communist Party of Ukraine.
IN DEEP
LURCH
Ukraine today is in a deep
lurch. Oleksandr V Turchynov, the
new speaker of the Ukrainian parliament admitted as much,
warning in an open
letter to the Ukrainian people that “Ukraine
is now in a pre-default
condition and sliding into the abyss”. Ukraine
said that it needs $35
billion in aid and loans over the next two years. The EU and
the US
that enthusiastically supported the ouster of
President Yanukovych, to check the Russian influence, are
now not too eager to
help Ukraine
come out of this abyss. The prime minister of Poland,
a country which actively aided the anti-regime protests
categorically stated as
far as aid is concerned, “Poland
will not sweat its guts out”. Neither the EU nor the US
have done anything more than
make promises. Both of them have stated that Ukraine
must go to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) for most of what it needs,
even though any
renewed deal with the Fund would come with difficult and
politically painful
conditions, principally the slashing of large State
subsidies for energy. The
IMF has made clear that it is unwilling to help Ukraine
without a commitment from
the country to undertake painful austerity measures and
other restructuring
measures. According to economic analysts, acceptance of the
conditions imposed
by the IMF would mean that Ukraine
will be heeding into deep recession in 2014.
Russia, stung and angered by
the developments in Ukraine,
refused to recognise the government in Ukraine
saying
that they are “Kalashnikov-toting people in black masks”. It
had already
stalled its earlier promise of aid and if it insists on the
repayment of its
loans and tries to economically strike, Ukraine
will be in even deeper crisis.
The opposition that
had come together to topple the
government had failed to form a government, as we go to
press. Talks are still
on. Elections to the post of president and mayor of Kiev
are scheduled for May 25. There is a
great deal of political uncertainty, flux and chaos in the
country. This is not
in anyway helping ease the burdens of the people, which in
the first place
moved them onto the streets. Moreover, indications that a
change in the
government will result in a change in the policies are
bleak. Both the deposed
president and the opposition groups are vouching for the
same set of
neo-liberal policies. Ultimately, it is the people who are
going to suffer
unless there is a thorough change in the policy trajectory.
Those forces which
had openly sided with Hitler and Nazis during the Second
World War and against
the Red Army, are once again ganging up. They are trying to
utilise the popular
discontent for their vested interests.
It is imperative for
all the progressive forces in Ukraine to
rise
up to the challenges posed by the neo-Nazis and right-wing
forces. The growth
of Nazism and fascism, as history taught us, is very costly
and we hope
Ukrainians, who know it all too well, will not allow it to
repeat.
People's Democracy