Ukraine and
Imperial Designs – II
R Arun
Kumar
IN the
past few days, tensions in Ukraine
have escalated, with Russia
moving its troops for military exercises along the
border with Ukraine.
It
vowed to protect the interests of Russian citizens
living in the East and
Southern regions of the country and naval forces
stationed in Crimea.
Reports indicate that Ukrainian naval chief had
expressed his support to Russia,
while Ukraine
had called for 'popular
mobilisation'. Though, President Putin had withdrawn all
the troops to their
stations on March 4, Russia
had unhesitatingly stated that it would not let
developments in Ukraine
adversely affect its strategic interests.
Russian
moves had evoked strong protests from the US
and the EU. Countries like Poland demanded the
intervention of NATO in Ukraine.
US
President Obama had threatened Russia
that it would have to face the “costs” for military
attacks on Ukraine.
They
have threatened to impose sanctions on Russia
and reports suggest that US
is moving towards freezing the accounts of Russians in
US banks. Hawks in the US
are bringing pressure on Obama to spell out
the 'costs' though they too are aware of the futility of
sending troops to
counter Russia.
To counter Russia,
the US
immediately announced one billion dollars as
aid to Ukraine,
along with the $600 million announced by the EU. $15
billion IMF loan was also
‘arranged’ by both the EU and the US
to compensate for the holding
back of Russian aid of similar amount. The exasperation
of the US
with the EU and its desperation to intervene,
or rather move the developments in the direction it
desires, was evident in the
derisive and abusive conversation the US State
department official had with
their ambassador stationed in Kiev.
Latest
news reports quoting from leaked telephonic conversation
between Estonian
foreign affairs minister, Urmas Paet and EU foreign
affairs chief Catherine
Ashton shows to what extent the EU and the US
can go to impose a regime
change. The conversation between them is about the 94
people who were killed
and hundreds who were injured during the violent clashes
when the opposition
laid siege to the government. The Estonian minister
quotes Dr Olga Bogomolets
who treated the injured and now health minister in the
interim cabinet. “She
then also showed me some photos she said that as a
medical doctor she can say
that it is the same handwriting, the same type of
bullets, and it’s really
disturbing that now the new coalition, that they don’t
want to investigate what
exactly happened.”
The EU foreign policy
chief suggested that the entire ‘scandal’ be “kept under
wraps” as the Estonian
minister stated that “it already discredits from the
very beginning the new US
backed Ukrainian government”. The Estonian government
had vouched for the
authenticity of the tape. So much about the US
and the EU who do not let go an
opportunity to sermonize about human rights violations
and democracy. In this
background, we have to understand why the US
is so interested in Ukraine.
BAKGROUND
FOR
THE US
INTEREST
In
2004, in a Congressional sub-committee hearing on Ukraine's
Future and US
interests, it was stated: “United States policy
must remain focused on
promoting and strengthening a stable, democratic, and
prosperous Ukraine, more
closely integrated into European and Euro-Atlantic
structures”, and “We should
also seek ways to assist Kiev as it pursues NATO
membership”. What are the
reasons for this benevolence? The answer is given in the
same Congressional
hearing: “Such a Ukraine
will contribute to a more stable and secure Europe.
It will be a partner with us in meeting new challenges,
such as the war on
terrorism, and countering proliferation, and it has
great potential for
mutually beneficial economic, trade, and investment
relations”. It should be
remembered here that Ukraine
had sent 1600 soldiers to Iraq
in solidarity with the US
invasion of that country, which as the hearing notes is
“one of the largest
contingents on the ground in Iraq”.
The
US
also recognizes Ukraine
for its “valuable assistance in Afghanistan,
providing
thousands of over-flight clearances for American
aircraft and donating weapons
and equipment to the Afghan National Army”.
It is
to coax Ukraine
into its
stranglehold, the US
is
pumping billions of dollars under the Freedom
Support Act for the transformation
of Ukraine.
“The Ukrainians themselves are going to have to make the
decisions to
transform, but the United States Government can help,
and our assistance
programs over the last 12 years have contributed
importantly to
denuclearization, consolidation of democratic
institutions, economic change,
health programs, and exchange programs which have
brought some 20,000
Ukrainians over the last decade to the United States”.
And the reasons are
spelt explicitly: “We pursue these programs because they
advance United States
interests by advancing our vision for a future Ukraine”
and “We also use
assistance programs to try to maximise our leverage by
targeting ways that we
can help plant the seeds for internal change, for
bottom-up change”. So, the US
'trains' media, legal professionals, gives monetary
'aid' for election process
(which includes funding NGO's like the Committee of
Ukrainian Voters) in order
to 'transform' Ukraine into a modern market economy and
'consolidate' its
democratic structures. And it was unashamedly stated:
“The US
needs to
help build up a cadre of well-educated Ukrainians who
understand Western
economies and politics. For this purpose, a larger
number of scholarships need
to be given for doctoral degrees at US universities”.
Through
these efforts by the US,
which took the EU along with it, Ukraine
was wooed to move closer to
the Western bloc, both politically and economically. The
US
ambassador in Ukraine
was actively involved
during the protests openly siding with the opposition
groups. In fact, the
leaked conversation mentioned above, also contains
details spelling out the
names of opposition leaders whom the US
prefers to take over the government of Ukraine.
Russia,
which has huge economic investments in the country was
worried of all these
developments and wanted to ensure that Ukraine
remains with the Eastern bloc, i.e., with Russia.
With
Putin's announcement of troop withdrawal, tensions might
ease temporarily, but
the fault lines still remain.
People's Democracy